Flu Virus Replication Pattern Revealed

Environment News Service, January, 2006

MADISON, Wisconsin (ENS) — --> Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have solved a genetic puzzle for an influenza virus in a breakthrough that is expected to yield new antiviral drugs and better vaccine production.

The new work, which is reported in the January 26 edition of the journal "Nature," is important as the biomedical community and governments worldwide develop strategies to cope with the prospect of an avian influenza pandemic.

"We've found that the influenza virus has a specific mechanism that permits it to package its genetic materials" as it creates its infectious particles, says influenza researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Kawaoka is also a professor at the University of Tokyo.

Viruses, including influenza viruses, depend on the cells of their hosts to survive. They infect cells and use them to help make more infectious particles, which are released ...