Reverse transcriptase in bacteria.

D Lim; W K Maas

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00264.x

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Reverse transcriptase in bacteria.

D Lim·W K Maas

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Abstract

Reverse transcriptase, discovered in 1970 in retroviruses, has until recently been found only in eukaryotic organisms. Recently it was shown to occur in two groups of bacteria: myxobacteria and Escherichia coli. The gene for reverse transcriptase is part of a chromosomal genetic element that codes for the production of a branched DNA-RNA compound. In this compound a single-stranded DNA is connected to RNA at a specific G residue by a 2'-5' phosphodiester linkage. The precursor for the DNA-RNA compound is a folded messenger RNA, in which the specific G residue is the initiation point for reverse transcription. In the final DNA-RNA compound, the portion of the RNA transcribed by reverse transcriptase is eliminated by RNase H. The DNA-RNA compound is present in several hundred copies per cell. Its biological function is unknown at present.

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Chromosomes, Bacterial DNA, Bacterial Escherichia coli Myxococcales RNA, Bacterial RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase Journal Article Review

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D Lim, W K Maas. 1989. Reverse transcriptase in bacteria.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00264.x

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