University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Dicer's role as an antiviral: still an enigma
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology
Publication Date
2014-02-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Animals; Antiviral Agents; Caenorhabditis elegans; DEAD-box RNA Helicases; Drosophila melanogaster; Humans; RNA, Viral; Ribonuclease III
Disciplines
Immunology of Infectious Disease | Immunopathology | Molecular Genetics | Virology
Abstract
Dicer is a multifunctional protein that is essential across species for the generation of microRNAs, a function that is highly conserved across the plant and animal kingdoms. Intriguingly, Dicer exhibits antiviral functions in lower organisms including Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Antiviral activity occurs via small interfering RNA production following cytoplasmic sensing of viral dsRNA. Notably, such antiviral activity has not yet been clearly demonstrated in higher organisms such as mammals. Here, we review the evidence for Dicer as an innate antiviral across species.
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.coi.2013.10.015
Source
Curr Opin Immunol. 2014 Feb;26:49-55. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2013.10.015. Epub 2013 Nov 22. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Current opinion in immunology
PubMed ID
24556400
Repository Citation
MacKay, Christopher R.; Wang, Jennifer P.; and Kurt-Jones, Evelyn A., "Dicer's role as an antiviral: still an enigma" (2014). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 800.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/800