Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

RNA Catalyst as a Reporter for Screening Drugs against RNA Editing in Trypanosomes
Published on: July 22, 2014
APOBEC-mediated editing of viral RNA
Kate N Bishop1, Rebecca K Holmes, Ann M Sheehy
1Department of Infectious Diseases, Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine, King's College London, London, SE1 9RT, UK.
Abstract:
Retroviral DNA can be subjected to cytosine-to-uracil editing through the action of members of the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases. Here we demonstrate that APOBEC-mediated cytidine deamination of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virion RNA can also occur. We speculate that the natural substrates of the APOBEC enzymes may extend to RNA viruses that do not replicate through DNA intermediates. Thus, cytosine-to-uracil editing may contribute to the sequence diversification of many viruses.
Related Concept Videos
RNA Interference
This process occurs naturally in cells, often through the activity of genomically-encoded microRNAs. Researchers can take advantage of this mechanism by introducing synthetic RNAs to deactivate specific genes for research or therapeutic purposes. For example, RNAi could be used...
Nonsense-mediated mRNA Decay
Usually, Upf3 binds to an Exon Junction Complex (EJC) at mRNA splice sites. If a ribosome fully translates the mRNA,...
RNA Editing
Leaky Scanning
RNA Interference
This process occurs naturally in cells, often through the activity of genomically-encoded microRNAs. Researchers can take advantage of this mechanism by introducing synthetic RNAs to deactivate specific genes for research or therapeutic purposes. For example, RNAi could be used...
Viruses with RNA Genomes

