Pol (HIV)

Pol (DNA polymerase) refers to a gene in retroviruses, or the protein produced by that gene.

The Gag-Pol region containing the protease gene flanked by p6^pol at the N-terminus and reverse transcriptase at the C-terminus.

Products of pol include:

Reverse transcriptase

Main article: Reverse transcriptase

Common to all retroviruses, this enzyme transcribes the viral RNA into double-stranded DNA.

Integrase

Main article: Integrase

This enzyme integrates the DNA produced by reverse transcriptase into the host's genome.

Protease

Main article: HIV-1 protease

A protease is any enzyme that cuts proteins into segments. HIV's gag and pol genes do not produce their proteins in their final form, but as larger combination proteins; the specific protease used by HIV cleaves these into separate functional units. Protease inhibitor drugs block this step.

See also

• Gag/pol translational readthrough site

External links

• Gene+Products,+pol at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• pol+Gene+Products,+Human+Immunodeficiency+Virus at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)