Antiviral Action of Type-1 Interferons


Interferon induces uninfected cells to produce enzymes capable of degrading mRNA. These enzymes remain inactive until the uninfected cell becomes infected with a virus. At this point, the enzymes are activated and begin to degrade both viral and cellular mRNA. This not only blocks viral protein synthesis, it also eventually kills the infected cell.


GIF Animation of the AntiviralAction of Type-1 Interferons by Gary E. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology, The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~gkaiser/index.html.

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Last updated: July, 2018
Please send comments and inquiries to Dr. Gary Kaiser