text: Most standard HIV drug therapies revolve around inhibiting the reverse transcriptase enzyme (RT), an enzyme that is necessary to the HIV-1 virus and other retroviruses to complete their life cycle. The RT enzyme serves two key functions. First, it controls the replication of the viruses genetic material via its polymerase activity. It converts the viral single-stranded RNA into an integration competent double stranded DNA. Subsequently, the generated DNA is translocated into the nucleus of the host cell where it is integrated in its genome by the retroviral integrase. The other role of the RT is its ribonuclease H activity that degrades RNA only when it is in a heteroduplex with DNA.