Results are presented that indicate that activation of DAI kinase and phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha may be required but are not sufficient to achieve inhibition of cellular protein synthesis during adenovirus infection.
These results directly show that the primary function of VAI RNA in the lytic adenovirus infection is the inhibition of eIF-2 alpha phosphorylation by DAI kinase and identify eIF-2 alpha as the target that mediates the effects of DAI kinase activation.