Abstract
Retroviruses are widely prevalent among vertebrates and are the causative agents of a variety of diseases in humans and animals including immunodeficiences, leukemias, and lymphomas (1). The retrovirus family is characterized by the presence of virion-associated reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that transcribes the viral genomic RNA into a double-stranded DNA copy. This feature has led to studies of the unique enzymatic function of RT for two main applications. First, RT is a good diagnostic tool for the generic detection of the presence of retroviruses. Second, the RT enzyme constitutes a primary target for antiviral drug therapy (1,2).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Coffin, J. M. (1990) Retroviridae and their replication, in Fields’ Virology, 2nd ed. (Fields, B. N., Knipe, D. M., Chanock, R. M., et al., eds.), Raven, New York, pp. 1437–1500.
Schinazi, R. F., Mead, J. R., and Feorino, P. M. (1992) Insights into HIV chemotherapy. AIDS Res. Human Retroviruses 8, 963–990.
Heneine, W., Yamamoto, S., Switzer, W. M., Spira, T. J., and Folks, T. M. (1995) Detection of reverse transcriptase by a highly sensitive assay in sera from persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1. J. Infect. Dis. 171, 1210–1216.
Yamamoto, S., Folks, T. M., and Heneine, W. (1996) Highly sensitive qualitative and quantitative detection of reverse transcriptase activity: Optimization, validation, and comparative analysis with other detection systems. J. Virol. Meth. 61, 135–143.
Bourinbaiar, A. S. (1991) HIV and gag. Nature 349, 111.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Humana Press Inc.
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Gerardo, J., García, L., Heneine, W. (2000). Ultrasensitive Detection of Reverse Transcriptase Activity by the Amp-RT Assay. In: Kinchington, D., Schinazi, R.F. (eds) Antiviral Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 24. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-245-7:291
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-245-7:291
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-561-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-245-6
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols