DNA dC->dU-editing enzyme APOBEC-3G (APOBEC3G)

DNA deaminase (cytidine deaminase) which acts as an inhibitor of retrovirus replication and retrotransposon freedom via deaminase-dependent and -independent mechanisms. After the penetration of retroviral nucleocapsids into target cells of infection and the initiation of reverse transcription, it may induce 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, together with a deamination- independent mechanism which operates before the proviral integration, together exert effective antiretroviral effects in infected cells. Selectively targets single-stranded DNA and does not deaminate double-stranded DNA or single-or double- stranded RNA.