Question | Answer |
Azidothymidine (AZT) | A pro drug nucleoside analog of Thymidine that is more attractive to reverse transcriptase than to DNA polymerase and inhibits reverse transcription of retroviruses (e.g. HIV) by blocking the 3' carbon binding site of ribose with an azide. |
Didanosine (DDL) | A pro drug nucleoside analog of Adenosine that is more attractive to reverse transcriptase than to DNA polymerase and inhibits reverse transcription in retroviruses (e.g. HIV) by blocking the 3' carbon binding site of ribose with a hydrogen. |
Acyclovir | A nucleotide analog of Guanine that has a higher affinity for (than for human DNA polymerase) and inhibits viral DNA polymerase (e.g. Herpes virus) with its absence of a 3' carbon binding site. |
Tenofovir | A nucleotide analog of Adenosine MonoPhosphate (AMP) that acts as a reverse transcriptase inhibitor with its absence of a 3' carbon binding site. |
Cytosine Arabinoside (Cytarabine) | A nucleoside analog of Deoxycytidine that induces DNA damage and inhibits the activity of DNA polymerase by blocking it from binding to make a phosphodiester bond and thereby terminating DNA replication. Cytarabine is used as an anti-cancer agent. |
Vidarabine (Adenosine Arabinoside) | A nucleoside analog of Deoxyadenosine that induces DNA damage and inhibits the activity of DNA polymerase by blocking it from biinding to make a phosphodiester bond and thereby terminating DNA replication. Cytarabine is used as an anti-cancer agent. |
Decitabine (5-Aza-2'-Deoxycytidine) | Anticancer analog of cytidine that prevents DNA methyl-transferase enzymes from methylating cytosine at position 5 since they have a Nitrogen at that position, thereby disrupting the epigenetic process. It also directly inhibits DNA methyl-transferase. |
5-Azacytidine | Anticancer analog of cytidine that prevents DNA methyl-transferase enzymes from methylating cytosine at position 5 since they have a Nitrogen at that position, thereby disrupting the epigenetic process. It also directly inhibits DNA methyl-transferase. |