DNA dC->dU-editing enzyme APOBEC-3F (APOBEC3F)

DNA deaminase (cytidine deaminase) which acts as an inhibitor of retrovirus replication and retrotransposon mobility via deaminase-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Exhibits antiviral activity against vif-deficient HIV-1.

Following the penetration of retroviral nucleocapsids into target cells of infection and the initiation of reverse transcription, it can cause the conversion of cytosine to uracil in the minus-sense single-strand viral DNA, resulting in G-to-A hypermutations in the following plus-strand viral DNA. The consequent detrimental levels of mutations in the proviral genome, along with a deamination- independent mechanism that works before the proviral integration, together exert efficient antiretroviral effects in infected cells.