Some antiviral drugs, like acyclovir for treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, are chain terminators that block RNA or DNA synthesis. They are modified nucleotides that can be incorporated into a growing RNA strand, but no additional nucleotides can be added. Amazingly, a cell protein has been found that can synthesize antiviral chain terminators.
A major new feature of the fourth edition of Principles of Virology is the inclusion of 26 video interviews with leading scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of virology. For the chapter on Synthesis of RNA from RNA templates, Vincent spoke with Karla Kirkegaard, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, about her career and her work on picornaviruses.
A small molecule antiviral compound has been shown to protect rhesus monkeys against lethal Ebolavirus disease, even when given up to three days after virus inoculation. The compound, called GS-5734, is a nucleoside analog. After uptake into cells, GS-5734 is converted to a nucleoside triphosphate (illustrated, bottom panel) which is incorporated by the viral RNA dependent RNA …
The enzymes that make copies of the DNA or RNA genomes of viruses – nucleic acid polymerases – can be placed into two broad categories depending on whether or not they require a primer, a short piece of DNA or RNA, to get going. The structure of the primer-independent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus reveals …
On episode #311 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent visits the University of Georgia where he speaks with Zhen Fu and Biao He about their work on rabies virus and paramyxoviruses. You can find TWiV #311, audio and video versions, at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and David Baltimore Vincent, Alan, and Rich celebrate the 100th episode of the podcast This Week in Virology by talking about viruses with Nobel Laureate David Baltimore. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV100.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #100 (68 MB .mp3, 94 minutes) Subscribe to …
