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R. Züst et al., “Ribose 2’-O-methylation provides a molecular signature for the distinction of self and non-self mRNA dependent on the RNA sensor Mda5,” Nat Immunol, 12:137-43, 2011. Free F1000 evaluation
As it is synthesized, eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA) is capped with a guanine molecule, and the first nucleotide of the nascent mRNA strand is modified in higher eukaryotes with a 2’-O-methylation. Many viruses infecting eukaryotic cells do the same. Volker Thiel, at Kantonal Hospital St. Gallen in Switzerland, and colleagues have shown that an invading virus uses this modification to hide from the host’s immune system.
Coronavirus bypasses the cell’s type I interferon (IFN) response, which stimulates macrophages and natural killer cells to attack virus-infected cells. How the virus escapes was unclear, but Thiel’s ...
