Some of the drugs used to treat HIV patients are competitive inhibitors of the HIV reverse transcriptase enzyme. Unfortunately, the high mutation rate of HIV means that the virus rapidly acquires mutations with amino acid changes that make reverse transcriptase resistant to these competitive inhibitors. Where in the reverse transcriptase enzyme would such amino acid changes most likely occur in drug- resistant viruses?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Amino acid changes that confer resistance to competitive inhibitors would most likely occur in or near the active site of the HIV reverse transcriptase enzyme, where the inhibitors bind and block the enzyme's function. Mutations in other regions of the enzyme, such as allosteric or cofactor binding sites, are less likely to confer resistance to these specific inhibitors. Mutations in regions that determine packaging into the virus capsid would have no effect on the enzyme's activity or inhibitor sensitivity. Therefore, the best choice is D.

Some of the Drugs Used to Treat HIV Patients Are