FIGURE 3.

Mechanism of action of reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors are classified into NRTIs and NNRTIs. The virus enters the host cell, sheds its capsid, and exposes genetic material. Cellular kinases phosphorylate the NRTIs and bind competitively with dNTP to template RNA, which blocks the transcription of viral genes. In contrast, NNRTIs bind to hydrophobic pockets close to the RT active site and inhibit viral gene transcription (Maga et al., 2010). Created with BioRender.com.