Lijun Sun1,2, Jiaxi Wu1, Fenghe Du2, Xiang Chen2, Zhijian J. Chen2
1Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390 USA
Tóm tắt
DNA Sensing Is a (c)GAS
DNA is normally localized to the nucleus, and so its cytoplasmic localization sends off alarm bells to the immune system because it indicates that a virus may have entered. But how does the immune system actually detect the DNA (see the Perspective by
O'Neill
)?
Sun
et al.
(p.
786
, published online 20 December) identify cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) cyclase (cGAS), which can bind to cytoplasmic DNA directly and catalyze the production of cGAMP. cGAMP then acts as a second messenger to activate downstream signaling events that trigger antiviral immunity.
Wu
et al.
(p.
826
, published online 20 December) show that cGAMP, produced in response to cytoplasmic DNA, binds to and activates the signaling adaptor protein STING.
