Sect. 1. Expression, purification, and characterization -- Purification of viral polymerases: general considerations -- Expression, purification, and characterization of the herpes simplex virus type-1 DNA polymerase -- Assays for poliovirus polymerase, 3Dpol, and authentic RNA replication in HeLa S10 extracts -- RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus -- Characterization of coronavirus RNA polymerase gene products -- Expression, purification, and characterization of orthomyxovirus: influenza transcriptase -- Expression, purification, and characterization of rhabdovirus polymerase --Expression and purification of retroviral HIV-1 reverse transcriptase -- Expression, purification, and characterization of DNA polymerases involved in papovavirus replication -- Heterologous expression, purification, and characterization of adenovirus DNA polymerase and preterminal protein -- Expression and characterization of hepadnavirus reverse transcriptases -- Expression, purification, and characterization of vaccinia virus-encoded RNA and poly(A)polymerases -- Viral polymerase-associated 5'(arrow)3' exonucleases: expression, purification, and uses -- Sect. 2. Activity assays: kinetic and screening -- Isotopic assays of viral polymerases and related proteins -- Nonisotopic assays of viral polymerases and related proteins -- Catalytic activities associated with retroviral and viral polymerases -- Approaches to high-volume screening assays of viral polymerases and related proteins -- In situ DNA polymerase and RNase H activity gel assays as applied to hepadnavirus particles -- A system to analyze and identify inhibitors of HIV-1 gene regulation using a defective integrated provirus --Sect. 3. Design and analysis of substrates and inhibitors -- Preparation and use of synthetic oligoribonucleotides as tools for study of viral polymerases -- Use of bacteriophage RNA polymerase in RNA synthesis -- Inhibition of viral polymreases by chain-terminating substrates: a kinetic analysis -- Design of nucleoside analog inhibitors of herpes-virus polymerases -- Development of nonucleoside HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors -- Analysis of inhibition of retroviral reverse transcriptase -- Novel methods of generating specific oligonucleotide inhibitors of viral polymerases -- Sect. 4. Molecular and structural characterizations -- Analyzing the fidelity of reverse transcription and transcription -- Site-directed mutagenic analysis of viral polymerases and related proteins -- Analysis of resistance mutants of viral polymerases -- Author index -- Subject index.