Natural Science Forum / Biology / Microbiology / February 2007

One idea I have often kicked around regarding fighting viruses is
this.
Given that certain classes of viruses are reverse sense (either RNA or
DNA) is there, within their genetic information, a reverse sense
primer region? Some bit of backwards code, if you will, that prompts
the viral reverse transcriptase to translate the viral code into a
positive sense strand and thus make it virulent and viable?
Assuming the answer to the above is 'yes' then wouldn't it be possible
to reproduce this reverse sense primer region and attach to it a
reverse sense code for a protein that would send the cell into
apoptosis or some other form of early death? Then once the viral
reverse transcriptase was active it would not only translate its viral
genetic code but also this reverse sense magic bullet. Once translated
the entire cell dies before the first virion is produced. Effectively
killing the cell and the virus. Rather than try to combat the viral
machinery render its host useless. In multicellular organisms this
would amount to the loss of one cell per virus.

The model is something like this:
Assume your cells are little cookie factories and everyone in the
factory speaks English. Viruses are like hostile competitors to your
cookie production and they all speak German. When they take over your
cookie factory they bring in their own recipes, written in German.
They also bring a translator to translate the German recipes into
English and subsequently take over your production facilities. What if
someone wrote a recipe (in German) that called for the destruction of
the plant before the first German cookie was made? Once translated the
whole factory shut down and no more cookies were made German or
otherwise.

I have wanted to test this idea in plants but have not had much luck
in finding a good reverse sense RNA virus that infects Arabidopsis
Thaliana aside from Tomato spotted wilt virus, but the infection rate
is really low.

Thoughts???
-Joel