Reverse transcription is the biochemical process by which an RNA molecule is used as a template to synthesize a complementary strand of DNA (cDNA), catalyzed by the enzyme reverse transcriptase. This reaction reverses the usual flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA and is a defining feature of retroviruses, wh…
Reverse transcription is the biochemical process by which an RNA molecule is used as a template to synthesize a complementary strand of DNA (cDNA), catalyzed by the enzyme reverse transcriptase. This reaction reverses the usual flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA and is a defining feature of retroviruses, which copy their RNA genomes into DNA that integrates into the host cell. Reverse transcriptase also operates in cellular processes such as the activity of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains chromosome ends. In the laboratory, reverse transcription is the first step of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), allowing RNA targets to be detected and quantified through subsequent amplification, and it is widely used in gene-expression analysis and molecular diagnostics. As an enzyme-driven reaction, it sits squarely within the study of Enzymes and their applications. Research relevant to this journal reflects both sides of the topic: a comparative analysis of commercial RT-PCR diagnostic assays for the detection of COVID-19 illustrates the diagnostic use of reverse transcription, while work on nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors examines how blocking this enzymatic activity affects telomerase function and cellular aging. This page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access research relevant to reverse transcription and reverse transcriptase Enzymes.
12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 12 articles above have been cited 50 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Reverse Transcription, linking to each citing work.