Mammalian body cells lack ancient viral defense mechanism
Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - 12:30
in Biology & Nature
A team led by Chris Sullivan, a professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, has provided the first positive evidence that RNA interference (RNAi), a biological process in which small RNA molecules prevent genes from being expressed, does not play a role as an antiviral in most body, or "somatic," cells in mammals.