A new* virus was recently discovered in my parents backyard, so
to speak. Pop-sci articles: Actual journal article: … and its
NOT MY FAULT. Proof? It is apparently a new phlebovirus, and I
know absolutely nothing about these guys. The phlebovirus genome
is made up of three strands of negative sense RNA— that is its
genome is broken up into three parts, and backwards. It has to
use a virally encoded RNA-RNA polymerase (humans do not ever
make RNA from RNA, so it is not a protein this kind of virus can
steal from its host) to turn its genome into the kind of RNA
template that can be used to make lots and lots of viral
messenger RNA, to make lots and lots of viral proteins. Unlike
retroviruses, phleboviruses do not ever have to go anywhere near
the host cell nucleus. To infect a cell, the virions get
endocytosed by the host cell into a vesicle, and then the viral
RNA is released into the cytoplasm. And thats where all of the
action occurs– generation of the RNA, generation of proteins,
and assembly. Phleboviruse