Figure 1. Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) signaling activation by viral ribonucleic acid (RNA).
The RIG-I protein is comprised of four major domain groups including the caspase activation and recruitment domains (CARDs) (black), and RNA-stimulated ATPase core (green), a helical regulatory and binding domain inserted into the second lobe of the ATPase called HEL2i (cyan), and a triphosphate recognition and RNA binding domain at the c-terminus annotated the C-terminal domain (CTD) (orange). RIG-I is normally present in cells in an autorepressed conformation with the CARDs stacked against the HEL2i domain. Upon infection by a subset of RNA and DNA viruses, RIG-I binds 5′ triphosphorylated duplex termini of viral RNA (black helix with three white circles) deposited or transcribed in the cytoplasm. RNA binding stimulates ATP (yellow star) binding and hydrolysis by RIG-I to ADP (yellow triangle). At some point in this process, RIG-I becomes competent to engage an immune signaling response through an interaction with the adaptor protein MAVS (red), however the determinant step for signaling has not been conclusively demonstrated. Thus, the transition of RIG-I from autorepressed to signaling competent may occur at the stage of RNA binding, ATP binding, or ATP hydrolysis, and this is denoted here with aroows bearing question markes leading from each stage in RNA-stimulated ATPase activity to the immune signaling interaction.