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Viruses 2010, 2, 1181-1184; doi:10.3390/v2051181 OPEN ACCESS viruses ISSN 1999-4915 /journal/viruses Editorial Special Issue: Retroviral Enzymes Luis Menéndez-Arias Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” [Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Universidad Autónoma de Madrid], Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain; E-Mail: lmenendez@cbm.uam.es; Tel.: +34 91 196 4494; Fax: +34 91 196 4420 Received: 5 May 2010 / Accepted: 7 May 2010 / Published: 7 May 2010 The retroviral RNA genome encodes for three enzymes essential for virus replication: (i) the viral protease (PR), that converts the immature virion into a mature virus through the cleavage of precursor polypeptides; (ii) the reverse transcriptase (RT), responsible for the conversion of the single-stranded genomic RNA into double-stranded proviral DNA; and (iii) the integrase (IN) that inserts the proviral DNA into the host cell genome. All of them are important targets for therapeutic intervention. This Special Issue provides authoritative reviews on the most recent research towards a better understanding of structure-function relationships in retroviral enzymes. The Issue includes three reviews on retroviral PRs, seven on RT and reverse transcription, and four dedicated to viral integration. The viral PR plays a critical role at the last stage of viral replication by processing of Gag and Gag- derived polyproteins at a limited number of sites. Detailed analysis of the