The Powerstroke and Camshaft of the RIG-I Antiviral RNA Detection Machine

The innate immune sensor RIG-I responds to infection by binding to viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). In this issue of Cell, Kowalinski et al. (2011) and Luo et al. (2011) reveal the structure of RIG-I, and in combination with functional analyses, they show how RIG-I recognizes viral RNA to initiate signaling and a type I interferon response.