small segments of their genome. Antisense RNA An RNA sequence that is complementary to an endogenous mRNA transcript is sometimes called "antisense RNA". In other words, it is a non-coding strand complementary to the coding sequence of RNA; this is similar to negative-sense viral RNA. When mRNA forms a duplex with a complementary antisense RNA sequence, translation is blocked. This process is related to RNA interference. Cells can produce antisense RNA molecules naturally, called microRNAs, which interact with complementary mRNA molecules and inhibit their expression. The concept has also been exploited as a molecular biology technique, by artificially introducing a transgene coding for antisense RNA in order to block the expression of a gene of interest. Radioactively or fluorescently labelled antisense RNA can be used to show the level of transcription of genes in various cell types. Some alternative antisense structural types have been experimentally applied as antisense therapy. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotides fomivirsen (Vitravene) and mipomersen (Kynamro) for human therapeutic use. RNA sense in viruses In virology, the term "sense" has a slightly different meaning. The genome of an RNA virus can be said to be either positive-sense, also known as a "plus-strand", or negative-sense, also known as a "minus-strand". In most cases, the terms "sense" and "strand" are used interchangeably, making terms such as "positive-strand" equivalent to "positive-sense", and "plus-strand" equivalent to "plus-sense". Whether a viral genome is positive-sense or negative-sense can be used as a basis for classifying viruses. Positive-sense Positive-sense (5′-to-3′) viral RNA signifies that a particular viral RNA sequence may be directly translated into viral proteins (e.g., those needed for viral replication). Therefore, in positive-sense RNA viruses, the viral RNA genome can be considered viral mRNA, and can be immediately translated by the host cell. Unlike negative-sense RNA, positive-sense RNA is of the same sense as mRNA. Some viruses (e.g. Coronaviridae) have positive-sense genomes that can act as mRNA and be used directly to synthesize proteins without the help of a complementary RNA intermediate. Because of this, these viruses do not need to have an RNA polymerase packaged into the virion—the RNA polymerase will be one of the first proteins produced by the host cell, since it is needed in order for the virus's genome to be replicated. Negative-sense Negative-sense (3′-to-5′) viral RNA is complementary to the viral mRNA, thus a positive-sense RNA