Definition of "transcriptase" [transcriptase]

• A polymerase that catalyzes the formation of RNA from a DNA template in the process of transcription. (noun)
• Reverse transcriptase. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That was very simple — by using an enzyme that can read DNA and synthesise RNA, called a transcriptase, he added."
• "One example is reverse transcriptase, which is a viral enzyme involved in the infection of cells by telomeres."
• "Combining both protein and RNA components, telomerase is a reverse transcriptase which adds telomere DNA to the ends of molecules using an RNA template."