SUMMARY Polyamines are small, abundant, aliphatic molecules present in all mammalian cells. Within the context of the cell, they play a myriad of roles, from modulating nucleic acid conformation to promoting cellular proliferation and signaling. In addition, polyamines have emerged as important molecules in virus-host interactions. Many viruses have been shown to require polyamines for one or more aspects of their replication cycle, including DNA and RNA polymerization, nucleic acid packaging, and protein synthesis. Understanding the role of polyamines has become easier with the application of small-molecule inhibitors of polyamine synthesis and the use of interferon-induced regulators of polyamines. Here we review the diverse mechanisms in which viruses require polyamines and investigate blocking polyamine synthesis as a potential broad-spectrum antiviral approach.

概括多胺是存在于所有哺乳动物细胞中的小的，丰富的脂肪族分子。在细胞的环境中，它们发挥着无数的作用，从调节核酸构象到促进细胞增殖和信号传导。此外，多胺已成为病毒-宿主相互作用中的重要分子。已显示许多病毒在其复制周期的一个或多个方面需要多胺，包括DNA和RNA聚合，核酸包装和蛋白质合成。随着多胺合成的小分子抑制剂的应用和干扰素诱导的多胺调节剂的使用，对多胺作用的理解变得更加容易。