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Science 10 November 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5801, p. 889
DOI: 10.1126/science.314.5801.889j
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This Week in Science

The cell's ability to distinguish invading RNA or DNA from the plethora of its own nucleic acid sequences plays a critical role in protecting the genome from potentially harmful damage, and a number of systems have evolved to sniff out unwanted alien genes and trigger cellular responses (see the Perspective by Fujita). Retinoic acid-inducible protein I (RIG-I), part of the cellular alarm system in the cytoplasm, specifically recognizes a number of RNA viruses, but what is RIG-I actually sensing? Hornung et al. (p. 994, published online 12 October) and Pichlmair et al. (p. 997, published online 12 October) show that RIG-I detects and binds to an unusual feature of the 5′ end of the viral RNA, specifically, a 5′-phosphate group.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)