Figure 1. Nucleoside and non-nucleoside drugs interfere with the action of an HIV enzyme called reverse transcriptase, just after HIV enters a cell.
1.Reverse transcriptase is necessary for HIV to change its genetic material into a form that gets inside the cell nucleus
2.where it becomes part of the cell's genetic material and makes long chains of proteins. The HIV enzyme protease is like a chemical "scissors" that cuts these long chains into short chains
3.Short protein chains are needed to form active new copies of HIV. Protease inhibitors gum up the "scissors"
4.and stop protease from cutting up the long chains of proteins. As a result, the new copies of HIV are empty
5.and can't go on to infect new cells.
