Question

Viruses rely on the host cell machinery to make new viruses, but they sometimes provide their own enzymes (such as reverse transcriptase, which is an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase). Which of the following types of enzymes would a virus need to provide in order to replicate within a cell? In other words, which of these enzymes would not normally be found in a cell unless a virus provided it?

Answer 1

The correct answer is: RNA dependent RNA polymerase, also called, RNA replicase.

Step-by-step explanation:

• RNA dependent RNA polymerase or RNA replicase is an enzyme that is capable of replicating RNA. This means the enzyme is capable of utilising RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) as a template strand to synthesise a new RNA molecule as the daughter strand.
• This enzyme is encoded only in the genome of those viruses that use RNA as their genetic material and such viruses are called RNA viruses.
• This enzyme is absent in the host cells that the virus infect.
• These viruses hijack the host cell machinery to translate their RNA genome and synthesise the RNA replicase protein, which further helps in replicating their RNA genome.