Alterations to the highly conserved Asp549 of the retroviral ribonuclease H (RNase H) domain were evaluated in the heterodimeric (p66/p51) reverse transcriptases of human immunodeficiency and equine infectious anemia viruses. In addition to the polymerization-dependent and -independent modes of template hydrolysis, mutants were evaluated via their ability to select and extend the 3' polypurine tract (PPT) primers of these two lentiviruses into (+) strand DNA. Concerted and two-step reactions were designed to evaluate (+) strand priming, the latter of which allows discrimination between selection end extension events. In contrast to enzyme mutated at the highly conserved Glu478, substitution of Asp549 with Asn or Ala reduces, rather than completely eliminates, RNase H activity. When the requirement for RNase H function becomes more stringent, differences in activity are readily evident, most notably in the cleavage events liberating the 5' terminus of the PPT primer. PPT selection thus appears to represent a specialized form of RNase H activity that is more sensitive to minor structural alterations within this domain and may provide a novel therapeutic target.