Do You Believe in ReincaRNAtion? Herpesviruses Reveal Connection between RNA Decay and Synthesis.

Many viruses degrade host mRNAs to reduce competition for proteins/ribosomes and promote viral gene expression. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Abernathy et al. (2015) demonstrate that a herpesviral RNA endonuclease induces host transcriptional repression that is mediated through the decay factor Xrn1 and evaded by viral genes.