Publication Date:
2005-02-19
Description:
Genetic information can be altered through the enzymatic modification of nucleotide sequences. This process, known as editing, was originally identified in the mitochondrial RNA of trypanosomes and later found to condition events as diverse as neurotransmission and lipid metabolism in mammals. Recent evidence reveals that editing enzymes may fulfill one of their most essential roles in the defense against infectious agents: first, as the mediators of antibody diversification, a step crucial for building adaptive immunity, and second, as potent intracellular poisons for the replication of viruses. Exciting questions are raised, which take us to the depth of the intimate relations between vertebrates and the microbial underworld.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Turelli, Priscilla -- Trono, Didier -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Feb 18;307(5712):1061-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15718460" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Cytidine/metabolism
;
Cytidine Deaminase/*metabolism
;
DNA, Viral/*metabolism
;
Deamination
;
Evolution, Molecular
;
Hepatitis B virus/genetics/physiology
;
Humans
;
*Immunity, Active
;
*Immunity, Innate
;
Mutation
;
*RNA Editing
;
RNA, Viral/metabolism
;
Retroelements
;
Retroviridae/pathogenicity/physiology
;
Virus Diseases/*immunology/metabolism/virology
;
Virus Replication
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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