Kääntäjätranskriptaaseiksi

Kääntäjätranskriptaaseiksi, often shortened to transcriptase or reverse transcriptase in English, are a class of enzymes that synthesize DNA from an RNA template. This process is known as reverse transcription. Naturally occurring reverse transcriptases are found in retroviruses, such as HIV, where they are essential for the virus's replication cycle. These viral enzymes are crucial for integrating the viral genetic material into the host cell's genome.

In molecular biology, reverse transcriptases are widely used as laboratory tools. They enable the creation of complementary DNA (cDNA) from messenger RNA (mRNA). This cDNA can then be used for various applications, including gene cloning, gene expression analysis, and the development of diagnostic tests. The ability to convert RNA into DNA allows researchers to study RNA molecules, which are often less stable than DNA, and to create DNA libraries representing the genes actively transcribed in a cell or tissue.

The discovery of reverse transcriptase in the late 1960s by Howard Temin and David Baltimore, for which they shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975, was a groundbreaking event. It challenged the central dogma of molecular biology, which at the time proposed that genetic information flows in only one direction, from DNA to RNA. The existence of reverse transcriptase demonstrated that this flow could be reversed. Modern biotechnology relies heavily on purified and engineered versions of these enzymes, which are commercially available and have revolutionized molecular biology research and applications.