Reverse transcription | Biochemistry

Quick Orientation

Section	Objective	Keywords
Definition	Understand the core idea	Reverse transcription, reverse transcriptase, retroviruses
Retroviruses and Reverse Transcriptase	Learn the main facts and relationships	cDNA
Synthesis of cDNA from mRNA	Follow the sequence and key control points	mRNA, probe
Clinical Correlation	Connect the mechanism to clinical findings	Retroviruses, oncogenic

Section

Definition

Objective: Understand the core idea
Keywords: Reverse transcription, reverse transcriptase, retroviruses

Retroviruses and Reverse Transcriptase

Objective: Learn the main facts and relationships
Keywords: cDNA

Synthesis of cDNA from mRNA

Objective: Follow the sequence and key control points
Keywords: mRNA, probe

Clinical Correlation

Objective: Connect the mechanism to clinical findings
Keywords: Retroviruses, oncogenic

Definition

Reverse transcription is the synthesis of DNA from an RNA template, catalyzed by reverse transcriptase (RNA dependent DNA polymerase); used by retroviruses, whose genetic material is RNA.