RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Sacramento, Carolina Q. A1 Fintelman-Rodrigues, Natalia A1 Miranda, Milene A1 Siqueira, Marilda M. A1 Souza, Thiago Moreno L.YR 2018 T1 Influenza virus RNA polymerase may be activated inside the virion JF Journal of General Virology, VO 99 IS 12 SP 1608 OP 1613 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001168 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB Influenza A and B virions are packaged with their polymerases to catalyse RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity. Since there is no evidence to rule in or out the permissiveness of influenza virions to triphosphate ribonucleotides, we functionally evaluated this. We found the means to stimulate influenza A and B RNA polymerase activity inside the virion, called natural endogenous RNA polymerase (NERP) activity. Stimulation of NERP activity increased up to 3 log10 viral RNA content, allowing the detection of influenza virus in otherwise undetectable clinical samples. NERP activation also improved our capacity to sequence misidentified regions of the influenza genome from clinical samples. By treating the samples with the ribavirin triphosphate we inhibited NERP activity, which confirms our hypothesis and highlights that this assay could be used to screen antiviral drugs. Altogether, our data show that NERP activity could be explored to increase molecular diagnostic sensitivity and/or to develop antiviral screening assays., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001168