Cells have evolved numerous ways to detect viral infection and set off the immune system's alarms. Extracellularly, Toll-like receptors spot double-stranded viral RNA, while inside the cell retinoic acid-inducible gene I ( RIG-I ) and melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 ( Mda-5 ) are responsible for detecting viral RNA. Ultimately, through a sequence of activating events - with the complete set of steps yet to be characterized - all roads lead to interferon production, but some viruses are able to evade the system by exploiting weak links.
Inside four weeks, in 2005, four independent groups identified a missing link in the chain from the initial detection of viral RNA to the activation of downstream kinases. Two of the resulting publications are Hot Papers. Lead by Zhijian (James) Chen at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the first group to publish christened the adaptor MAVS, for mitochondrial antiviral signaling. 1 The ...
