Abstract
NATURALLY occurring and synthetic double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are interferon inducers1. They inhibit protein synthesis in animal cells2 and cell-free systems3–5. It is intriguing, therefore, that interferon treatment renders cells more sensitive to the toxic effects of dsRNA6, particularly as viral dsRNA may be involved in the replication of RNA viruses and has been isolated from DNA virus-infected cells7. Accordingly, the production of viral dsRNA in response to infection could bring about a general inhibition of protein synthesis in the interferon-treated cell, as is indeed observed in interferon-treated, vaccinia virus-infected mouse fibroblast L cells8,9. The cell dies but little virus is produced: an effective way of limiting a natural infection.
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KERR, I., BROWN, R. & BALL, L. Increased sensitivity of cell-free protein synthesis to double-stranded RNA after interferon treatment. Nature 250, 57–59 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250057a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/250057a0
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