User:Kerry Frattarola/Sandbox 1: Difference between revisions

Indinavir functions as a competitive inhibitor affecting the HIV protease protein. Indinavir essentially mimics the target substrate of HIV protease and binds to the protease active site. The HIV protease enzyme is essential to the reproduction of the HIV virus and further infection. HIV protease performs post-translational cleavage of polyproteins, such as Gag, that serve as important factors in virus development. HIV protease is released from the virus soon after the cell is infected and immediately beings lysing polyproteins into vital proteins such as reverse transcriptase, integrase, and protease. The virus will halt development if the polyproteins are not lysed and the resulting particles from the virus will be non-infective. The hydrophobic phenyl functional groups located on the terminal ends of Indinavir increased the potency of the drug compared to earlier protease inhibitors. <ref name="Antimicrobial">Scholar, E. M., & Pratt, W.B. (2000). ''The Antimicrobial Drugs'' (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.</ref>