transcriptase

Thân thiện

A scientist observes the action of transcriptase in a cellular diagram.

Definition

Noun: 1. An enzyme that catalyzes the formation of RNA from a DNA template: Transcriptase is a type of enzyme responsible for the process of transcription, where the genetic code from DNA is copied to produce a complementary strand of RNA. This is a fundamental step in gene expression.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Reverse transcriptase is a special type of transcriptase that copies RNA into DNA.
  • The activity of the transcriptase enzyme is essential for reading genetic instructions.
  • Scientists studied the viral transcriptase to develop a new antiviral drug.

Advanced Usage

• "Reverse transcriptase": A specific and well-known variant of this enzyme class that synthesizes DNA from an RNA template, contrary to the standard direction. This enzyme is crucial for retroviruses like HIV and is widely used in molecular biology techniques.
  • The discovery of reverse transcriptase challenged the central dogma of molecular biology.

Variants and Related Words

• Transcript (n): The RNA molecule that is produced as a result of transcription.
  • The messenger RNA transcript carries the code to the ribosome.
• Transcription (n): The overall process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA template.
  • Transcription is the first step of gene expression.

Synonyms

• RNA polymerase: This is the more precise and commonly used scientific synonym for transcriptase in the context of DNA-to-RNA transcription.

Học thuật

Noun

1. the enzyme that copies DNA into RNA

Từ đồng nghĩa

• rna polymerase