Beyond Metabolism: Pyruvate Carboxylase Acts as a Sequence-Selective Small RNA Sensor Orchestrating Antiviral Responses
- Open access
Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) acts as a novel RNA sensor, mediating over 100-fold interferon induction via miRTC14 in antiviral immunity.
- Why it matters: Understanding how immune responses are activated at the molecular level can reveal new targets for antiviral therapies and clarify innate immune mechanisms involving metabolic enzymes.
- What they did: Researchers used miRNA pull-down, mass spectrometry, and immunoblotting to identify PC and LGP2 as direct miRTC14 binding partners, then demonstrated their essential roles in IFN induction through depletion and reconstitution experiments.
- The result: Findings show that miRTC14 triggers IFN production through sequence-dependent interactions with PC and LGP2, unveiling a new RNA-sensing pathway that links metabolism to innate immune activation.