Interestingly, infection with this 229E nsp15 mutant resulted in activation of the OAS/RNase L pathway, as evidenced by total rRNA degradation in MRC-5 and HT1080 cells (Fig. 8C and F), as well as increased nuclear PABPC1 localization in MRC-5 cells (Fig. 8D and E). The gene discussed is SMOC1; the disease is infection.