Researchers have made a significant new discovery about RNA (ribonucleic acid) viruses and how they replicate themselves. Certain RNA viruses -- poliovirus, hepatitis C virus and coxsackievirus -- and possibly many other families of viruses copy themselves by seizing an enzyme from their host cell to create replication factories enriched in a specific lipid. The scientists have uncovered that certain RNA viruses take control of a cellular enzyme to design a replication compartment on the cell's membrane filled with PI4P lipids. Those lipids, in turn, allow the RNA viruses to attract and stimulate the enzymes they need for replication.