The Viral Talk

Episode 10 - How do viruses hijack the cell?

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How can tiny viruses hijack a cell and make it do their bidding? How can they survive a whole organism trying to get rid of them? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.


Key takeaways:

  • Viruses make three types of proteins. One type to replicate, one type to protect their genome once they're outside of the host, and one to modify the cell they infect at their 'whim'.
  • The proteins they use to change the structure of the cell often work through 'mimicry'. They have motifs/domains that resemble cellular proteins, which interact with our proteins to either stop their function or re-direct it.
  • Common to most viral infection is a phenomenon called host translation shut off, in which cellular protein production goes down and viral protein production goes up.
  • Translation shut off can be achieved by either destroying cellular mRNA or tricking the cellular translation machinery into believing that viral mRNA is in fact cellular mRNA.
  • Viruses have also evolved multiple ways to shut down the immune response of cells, through accessory proteins that are not incorporated into the final viral particles but without which they don't fare very well.
  • They have also evolved multiple ways to mimic cellular 'messenger molecules', by doing so causing distruptions in the way cells can respond to infection.
  • These viral proteins are also very important targets for the development of antiviral drugs.

    • Articles for the most interested:

    • DOI:10.1038/nri980 - Viral mimicry of messenger molecules
    • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4952 - Influenza mimicry of histone 3
    • DOI: 10.1006/viro.2000.0816 - HIV Nef protein and MHC
    • DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro267 - Viral Cap snatchin
    • https://viralzone.expasy.org/1579#:~:text=Viruses%20have%20evolved%20ways%20of,to%20evade%20host%20immune%20response%20 - Nice resource that lists way in which viruses cause translation shut off.



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      The Viral TalkBy Federico De Angelis, Bobbie-Anne Turner