MadSci Network: Cell Biology |
Benjamin,
As far as a cell is concerned, RNA is RNA. It doesn't really matter where the RNA came from. Ribosomes will translate the RNA as long as the proper signaling sequences (CAP) are on the RNA. There is no way to treat the cytoplasm of a cell to recognize only that cells RNA (again RNA is RNA).
There are chemical ways (drugs) to interfere with translation, but this affects all translation, to include translation of proteins coded for by the cells DNA. A possible way to target just viral RNA is to make something called antisense RNA. Antisense RNA has the complementary sequence to an mRNA. In case you don't understand what complementary means, here is an example:
mRNA sequence AAGCGGUGUA antisense RNA UUCGCCACAU
If this "antisense" RNA is placed in the cytoplasm of an infected cell, it will bind to the mRNA forming double-stranded RNA. Once this occurs, the mRNA is no longer capable of binding to a ribosome (double-stranded RNA is degraded by RNase III). In other words, no protein will be made. This sounds nice but there are problems. You have to know exactly what mRNA(s) you want to make antisense RNA to. You also have to have the ability to get this antisense RNA into infected cells.
I am including several websites that will help you understand how viruses infect a cell and cause the cell to make more virus. I am also including 2 websites that discuss antisense RNA and how this technique has been effectivly used. Good Luck.
Dr Jeffrey Stiefel
http://
www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/V/Viruses.html
http://www.med.sc.edu/
MICRO/mhunt/RNA-HO.htm
antisense RNA: http://
www.euchromatin.org/Hamilton1.htm
http://wwwbio.ukc.ac.uk/nicholls/notes/BI683/
lect4/3.htm
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Cell Biology.