Reovirus contains ribonucleic acid (RNA) equivalent in amount to a molecular weight of approximately 10(7) daltons. On isolation, this RNA is invariably broken into fragments of three different sizes. The three pieces have been separated from each other by chromatography on methylated albumin-kieselguhr columns. Denaturation of the three fragments of RNA in dimethyl sulfoxide led to separation ...

In organisms as diverse as nematodes, trypanosomes, plants, and fungi, double-stranded RNA triggers the destruction of homologous mRNAs, a phenomenon known as RNA interference. RNA interference begins with the transformation of the double-stranded RNA into small RNAs that then guide a protein nuclease to destroy their mRNA targets.

Interferon-treated cells exhibited an increased susceptibility to the toxicity of several natural and synthetic double-stranded RNA molecules and to vaccinia virus, provided the latter was able to undergo replicative events. However, interferon-treated cells exhibited no enhanced susceptibility to several other toxic materials or to vaccinia virus that was unable to replicate; These findings su...

Virus-induced interferon formation depends on the presence within the cell of a viral ribonucleic acid. This RNA may either be double stranded or, in certain cases, single stranded. The double-stranded RNA can be derived from a virus, such as reovirus, which contains this type of RNA, or it may be synthesized within the cell using viral single-stranded RNA as a template. Single-stranded RNA mus...

Double-stranded RNA viruses face two major problems: the endogenous machinery of its host cells does not replicate RNA genomes, and double-stranded RNA provokes strong cellular defence responses such as interferon induction and gene silencing. The solution for the virus is to keep the genomic double-stranded RNA always in a separate container, an icosahedral viral capsid, and to more-or-less au...