Abstract
Enzymatically and chemically synthesized cordycepin analogs of 2–5A† trimer and tetramer were found to be biologically active as protein synthesis inhibitors in intact cultured human fibroblast and murine L929 cells 1,2. In rabbit reticulocyte lysates, the cordycepin tetramer analog of 2–5A inhibits protein synthesis through binding to and activation of RNase L3. Our present results using L929 cell extracts provide direct evidence that the cordycepin analogs of 2–5A can bind to and activate RNase L.