 |
Inhaltsübersicht | Nanomaschinen | Moleküle | Programme | Kurse | Fun | Links |
 |
| > |
Reverse Transcriptase
Exploring the Structure
The current collection of highly-effective drugs for fighting HIV infection are a major success of modern drug design. Two types of drugs are used for blocking the action of reverse transcriptase and stopping HIV infection. One type is a modified nucleotide with a missing connector, such as the drug AZT. These are used by the enzyme like normal nucleotides and added to the growing chain. But, since they are missing a site for connecting the next nucleotide, the synthesis of the DNA chain is stopped. The other type of drug binds on the back side of the enzyme and changes the shape of the active site, blocking its action. The drug Nevirapine, shown here in white from PDB entry 1jlb, is an example of this type of drug. Notice how it is located just under the floor of the active site, below the big groove that binds to DNA and RNA.This illustration was created with RasMol. You can create similar illustrations by clicking on the accession code above and picking one of the options under View Structure.
A list of all reverse transcriptase structures in the PDB as of September, 2002, is available here. For more information on reverse transcriptase, click here.
Next: Interaktive 3D-Animation
Previous: Two Enzymes in One
Last changed by: A.Honegger,