Harvard scientists uncover key allowing deadly viruses to replicate
Viruses are masterful invaders. They cannibalize host cells by injecting their genetic material, often making thousands of copies of themselves in a single cell to ensure their replication and survival. Some RNA viruses — viruses whose RNA, not DNA, carries their genetic information — insert their genetic material into cells as a single piece, while others chop it up. The latter are aptly named segmented viruses. Such segmented RNA viruses, including several that cause human diseases like influenza, have long been an enigma to researchers: How do they accomplish the precise copying and insertion of each segment? How do they ensure that individual segments are all copied by the same enzyme and that each segment can make different amounts of RNA? Such exquisite regulation is critical to making the correct levels of the viral proteins necessary for successful replication. Now research by scientists at Harvard Medical School’s Blavatnik Institute yields a surprising answer:...