The first class of drugs developed to treat AIDS-such as AZT-were known as reverse transcriptase inhibitors. What was the mechanism by which they worked to treat HIV infections?

A) They bonded to the viral reverse transcriptase enzyme, thus preventing the virus from making a DNA copy of its RNA genome.
B) They bonded to the dsDNA genome of the virus in such a way that it could not separate in order for replication to occur.
C) They targeted and destroyed the viral genome before it could be reverse transcribed into DNA.
D) They prevented host cells from producing the enzymes used by the virus to replicate its genome.