The present study describes the separation and purification of a reverse transcriptase and cellular DNA polymerases from the human spleen of a patient with myelofibrotic syndrome. The specific requirements with respect to bivalent cations and template-primers for DNA polymerase-alpha, DNA polymerase-beta and DNA polymerase-gamma, as well as for the reverse transcriptase, are reported. Sedimenta...

background: adhesion and biofilm formation are two important steps in candida pathogenesis. the aim of the current study was to investigate the presence of bcr1 gene in candida albicans (c. albicans) isolates from women with vaginal candidiasis and its impact on biofilm formation. methods: we used 50 clinical isolates which confirmed c. albicans by pcr-rflp. then total rna was extracted from c....

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that inhibit the translation of target mRNAs. In humans, most microRNAs are transcribed by RNA polymerase II as long primary transcripts and processed by sequential cleavage of the two RNase III enzymes, DROSHA and DICER, into precursor and mature microRNAs, respectively. Although the fundamental functions of microRNAs in RNA silencing have been gradually unc...

substantial progress continues to be made in the arena of antiretroviral drug development. prn is again proud to present its annual review of the experimental agents to watch for in the coming months and years. This year’s review is based on a lecture by Dr. Roy M. Gulick, a longtime friend of prn, and no stranger to the antiretroviral development pipeline. To date, twenty-two antiretrovirals h...

Reverse transcription of the genomic RNA by reverse transcriptase occurs soon after HIV-1 infection of target cells. The viral nucleocapsid (NC) protein chaperones this process via its nucleic acid annealing activities and its interactions with the reverse transcriptase enzyme. To function, NC needs its two conserved zinc fingers and flanking basic residues. We recently reported a new role for ...

The availability of potent combination antiretroviral regimens has resulted in a dramatic reduction in HIV-1 associated morbidity and mortality in the developed world. However, HIV infection and treatment has been associated with the development of insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and diabetes. Besides, there can be co-morbid situations of HIV infection and diabetes. Safe pharmacological...

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the ethyl acetate extract from Teucrium flavum subsp. glaucum, endowed with inhibitory activity towards HIV-1 reverse transcriptase–associated RNase H function, led to isolation salvigenin (1), cirsimaritin (2) and cirsiliol (3) along neo-clerodanes teuflavin (4) teuflavoside (5). Acid hydrolysis inactive provided three undescribed neo-clerodanes, flavuglaucins ...

Telomerase canonical activity at telomeres prevents telomere shortening, allowing chromosome stability and cellular proliferation. To perform this task, the catalytic subunit (telomerase reverse transcriptase, TERT) of the enzyme works as a reverse transcriptase together with the telomerase RNA component (TERC), adding telomeric repeats to DNA molecule ends. Growing evidence indicates that, bes...

None of the available antiretroviral drugs that are currently used in the clinic to treat infection with HIV-1 is directed against the RNase H active site of the reverse transcriptase. Here we developed a nonradioactive, 96-well plate assay designed to be used for high-throughput screening of compounds capable of inhibiting the RNase H activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. We employed a tRNA...

Many group II introns encode reverse transcriptase-like proteins that potentially function in intron mobility and RNA splicing. We compared 34 intron-encoded open reading frames and four related open reading frames that are not encoded in introns. Many of these open reading frames have a reverse transcriptase-like domain, followed by an additional conserved domain X, and a Zn(2+)-finger-like re...