Influenza virus infection has adverse effects on the metabolism of two representative RNA polymerase II transcripts in chicken embryo fibroblasts, those coding for beta-actin and for avian leukosis virus (ALV) proteins.
The kinetics of cellular mRNA decay in influenza virus-infected cells have been studied by means of blot hybridization using as probes cloned cDNAs of alpha- and beta-actin, alpha- and beta-tubulin and vimentin.
Using TRX transgenic (Tg) mice in which human TRX is overexpressed systemically under the control of beta-actin promoter, the effects of influenza virus infection were examined in TRX Tg mice and wild type C57BL/6 mice.
Our studies showed that influenza infection activates a series of signaling pathways that converge to induce myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation and remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton.