Pol (retrovirus)

Pol (for "polymerase") refers to a gene in retroviruses, or the protein produced by that gene. Products of pol include:^[1][2]

• Protease, an enzyme that cuts proteins into segments. HIV's gag and pol genes do not encode their proteins in their final form but as larger polyproteins that the HIV protease cleaves into separate functional units.
• Reverse transcriptase (RT), which transcribes the viral RNA into double-stranded DNA. It includes a RNase H domain. This is the part that gives pol its name, as a reverse transcriptase is a RNA-directed DNA polymerase.
• Integrase, which integrates the DNA produced by RT into the host cell's genome.

The Gag-Pol region containing the protease gene flanked by p6^pol at the N-terminus and reverse transcriptase at the C-terminus.

See also

• Gag/pol translational readthrough site