Special Issue: Retroviral Enzymes

Abstract: The retroviral RNA genome encodes for three enzymes essential for virus replication: (i) the viral protease (PR), that converts the immature virion into a mature virus through the cleavage of precursor polypeptides; (ii) the reverse transcriptase (RT), responsible for the conversion of the single-stranded genomic RNA into double-stranded proviral DNA; and (iii) the integrase (IN) that inserts the proviral DNA into the host cell genome. All of them are important targets for therapeutic intervention. This Special Issue provides authoritative reviews on the most recent research towards a better understanding of structure-function relationships in retroviral enzymes. The Issue includes three reviews on retroviral PRs, seven on RT and reverse transcription, and four dedicated to viral integration. [...]