Mutations at Codon 215: the Silent Threat
Mutations at Codon 215: the Silent Threat
Carmen de Mendoza
Puerta de Hierro University Hospital, Madrid, Spain
*Correspondence: Carmen de Mendoza, Email not available
Abstract
Changes at codon 215 in the reverse transcriptasegene were the first to be reported to conferresistance to the first antiretroviral drug, AZT(Larder, et al. Science 1989;246:1155-8). Theselection of two nucleotide changes at codon215 drives the substitution of Threonine (T) byTyrosine (Y), which reduces 16-fold the susceptbility to AZT. The mechanism why T215Y results inAZT resistance seems to involve an enhancedexcision of the terminator nucleoside in the growingcDNA chain (pyrophosphorolysis).
