REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE (RT)
RNA-dependent
DNA Polymerase
Howard
Temin & David Baltimore - 1975 Nobel Prize
is
an enzyme found in retroviruses (RNA viruses-
as HIV) that catalyzes the synthesis of a single-
stranded DNA molecule from a
single-stranded
RNA template
(such as mRNA).
Using
RT & DNA polymerase one can then
make a
complimentary DNA strand and thus
make a cDNA gene that contains
no introns,
i.e., a DNA that is
complimentary to a mRNA,
thus
complimentary DNA = cDNA.
One can even add STICKY ENDS to
it.
Remember that genomic DNA contains
both introns
& exons, mRNA only exons.
cDNA = complimentary DNA