In 1970 it was discovered that retroviruses could copy DNA from an RNA sequence
- These viruses possess an enzyme (reverse transcriptase) that allows for reverse transcription to occur
- Reverse transcription is now commonly used in scientific studies to establish gene expression profiles
cDNA
- Complementary DNA (cDNA) is a molecule synthesised from an mRNA template via reverse transcription
- cDNA molecules represent gene sequences that are actively transcribed by a cell (as they were synthesised from mRNA)
- This makes them a valuable tool for determining expression patterns of proteins in normal and diseased states
- cDNA molecules are also commonly used in gene transfer experiments as they do not possess introns
DNA ⟷ RNA
