Do humans possess reverse transcriptase?

[thebillsfan]

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I hear everywhere that humans don’t possess reverse transcriptase; viruses do. But what about transposons? I know some retrotransposons use reverse transcriptase, which would means human's DO posses RT. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[G1SG2]

I hear everywhere that humans don’t possess reverse transcriptase; viruses do. But what about transposons? I know some retrotransposons use reverse transcriptase, which would means human's DO posses RT. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Yes we do-telomerase! It adds DNA at the 3' end at the end of our chromosomes (telomere area), and uses RNA as a template for elongation.

 

[thebillsfan]

oh good call...but what about the transposons?

 

[Spiker]

They move around. They have protein that cut them self out then move to a different location. They dont go from DNA to mRNA to DNA However if they are stuck in some protein sequence they will go from DNA to mRNA and messes up the protein.

 

[wanderer]

oh good call...but what about the transposons?

I believe that retrotransposons are DNA segments that are "copy and pasted" (as opposed to cut and paste) through an RNA intermediate and back to DNA through reverse-transcriptase.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrotransposon

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alu_sequence

 

[Chiropractic way of life]

I am afraid to communicate to you that you are mistaken about retrotransposon, and so is Wikipidia. I have recently discoverd myself, thanks to the funding of Craig Venter, that these transposons act through the FNA intermidiate (fructonucleic acid). If you desire to obtain more information on this area, just send me a quick e-mail and I will be pleased to answer personally all your queries.
My mail is [email protected]

Best wishes,
Dr. C