Question

AZT is a drug that is commonly used to fight HIV infection. The active component of AZT is a nitrogenous base that mimics thymine. Normal nucleotides CANNOT covalently bond to the thymine mimic. HIV's reverse transcriptase enzyme will use the thymine mimic instead of using thymine, whereas our DNA polymerase will not make this mistake. What is the most likely explanation for how AZT prevents HIV replication

Answer 1

Answer:

AZT works by selectively inhibiting HIV's reverse transcriptase, the enzyme that the virus uses to make a DNA copy of its RNA. Reverse transcription is necessary for production of HIV's double-stranded DNA, which would be subsequently integrated into the genetic material of the infected cell to produce its proteins. All reverse transcriptase inhibitors are analogues of the naturally occurring deoxynucleotides needed to synthesize the viral DNA and they compete with the natural deoxynucleotides for incorporation into the growing viral DNA chain.