There's NO way for humans to use reverse transcription, right? or at least that's the impression I was under. But on the Molecular Biology Topical Test from Kaplan, question #8, it says that in humans mRNA can be converted, using reverse transcription, to complementary DNA (cDNA). How is this possible?
Humans and reverse transcriptase
- Thread starter junkct
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Reverse Transcription is possible in human with the lagging stand of Okazaki fragment during DNA replication. RNA primers help to initiate the DNA synthesis on the lagging strand due to the nature of DNA polymerase.
Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase, it uses an RNA template to add repeate nucleotides to the lagging strand template strand.
yeah, but the reverse transcriptase in HIV comes from the HIV virus itself; it's not synthesized in humans. I was asking whether it's possible for humans to do reverse transcription themselves, maybe not by using reverse transcriptase necessarily, but by some other method...
Notice that the statement you posted:
"in humans mRNA can be converted, using reverse transcription, to complementary DNA (cDNA)"
does NOT preclude the possibility that this is a retro virally infected human and that the RT is not of human origin!
That being said, the above posters are right, although I'm doubtful that knowing there is some obscure RT activity endogenous to humans is testable on the MCAT.
"in humans mRNA can be converted, using reverse transcription, to complementary DNA (cDNA)"
does NOT preclude the possibility that this is a retro virally infected human and that the RT is not of human origin!
That being said, the above posters are right, although I'm doubtful that knowing there is some obscure RT activity endogenous to humans is testable on the MCAT.
