Repost re: possible reservoir for Ebola/Marburg

[Marion Freistadt]

You work with RNA and never heard of viroids??


>> But RNA????  I work with RNA every day and I cant imagine it being
>> infectious.  RNAses are everywhere and I cant imagine a naked RNA molecule
>> lasting long enough to be infectious...  Could you give me the Refs. for
>those > things??
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> Don
>> Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
>> University of Missouri-Columbia
>> C601591 at showme.missouri.edu
>
>Don,
>
>   I believe your best bet for information on infectious viral RNAs would
>be to look at work done in picornaviruses.  It has been known for several
>years that
>positive stranded RNA viruses can serve as mRNA when transfected into
>cells. These + RNA genomes can be manipulated in cDNA clones, and then
>transcribed RNA can be transfected back into cells. Recombinant,
>infectious virus particles result.  These experiments are not possible
>with negative stranded RNA viruses since their genomes can not serve as
>mRNAs.
>
>AJ
>U Penn Microbiology
>robertsa at cbil.humgen.upenn.edu
>
>    
>    



Marion S. Freistadt
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology
Louisiana State University Medical Center
1901 Perdido St.
New Orleans, LA. 70112

504-568-4071
FAX-----2918