Looking for the next measles virus
Measles virus does not just cause a rash – it can kill, up to 100,000 people each year. And there are many related viruses circulating in other animals that are not far from being able to infect human cells.
Basic virology
RNA in circles
The diversity of cellular RNA structure and function has progressed from the early days of molecular biology, when we thought only about mRNA, tRNA and ribosomal RNAs. Then RNA splicing was discovered along with the many small nuclear RNAs that mediate that process. Next came small interfering RNAs and microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs, master …
Toll to the Rescue
by Gertrud U. Rey Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) include a variety of fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by infectious proteins called prions. Although prions are not viruses, their ability to self-propagate without a nucleic acid intermediate has always fascinated virologists, causing them to adopt prions into their repertoire of pathogenic agents. Common TSEs comprise scrapie in …
Viral infections of the enteric nervous system and intestinal dysmotility
Intestinal dysmotility disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome affect 10-30% of humans in Western countries. Some of these diseases appear to correlate with viral infection. Inoculation of mice with neurotropic flaviviruses leads to injury and death of enteric neurons, inflammation, intestinal dilation and retarded bowel transit, providing a model for studying and treating these human …
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These Bacteria are Bugged
By Gertrud U. Rey Quorum sensing is a form of cell to cell communication in bacteria in which individual cells coordinate their behavior based on population density. In human terms, the word “quorum” means “the minimum number of people required to conduct business.”
The lost picornavirus ORF
For over 50 years the RNA genome of picornaviruses (illustrated below for poliovirus) was thought to be translated into a single, long polyprotein. All this time a very small upstream open reading frame (uORF) has gone undetected – until now.