Bacterial Riboswitches and Ribozymes Potently Activate the Human Innate Immune Sensor PKR.

ABSTRACT: The innate immune system provides the first line of defense against pathogens through the recognition of nonspecific patterns in RNA to protect the cell in a generalized way. The human RNA-activated protein kinase, PKR, is a dsRNA binding protein and an essential sensor in the innate immune response, which recognizes viral and bacterial pathogens through their RNAs. Upon activation via RNA-dependent autophosphorylation, PKR phosphorylates the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF2α, leading to termination of translation. PKR has a well-characterized role in recognizing viral RNA, where it binds long stretches of double-stranded RNA nonsequence specifically to promote activation; however, the mechanism by which bacterial RNA activates PKR and the mode by which self RNA avoids activating PKR are

SUBMITTER: Hull CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4833549 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature