Lu Long-Feng, Li Shun, Wang Zhao-Xi, Du Si-Qi, Chen Dan-Dan, Nie Pin, Zhang Yong-An
State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
J Virol. 2017 Jun 26;91(14). doi: 10.1128/JVI.00390-17. Print 2017 Jul 15.
Although fish possess an efficient interferon (IFN) system to defend against aquatic virus infection, grass carp reovirus (GCRV) still causes hemorrhagic disease in grass carp. To date, GCRV's strategy for evading the fish IFN response is still unknown. Here, we report that GCRV VP41 inhibits fish IFN production by suppressing the phosphorylation of mediator of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) activation (MITA). First, the activation of the IFN promoter (IFNpro) stimulated by mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) and MITA was decreased by the overexpression of VP41, whereas such activation induced by TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) was not affected. Second, VP41 was colocalized in the cellular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and associated with MITA. Furthermore, as a phosphorylation substrate of TBK1, VP41 significantly decreased the phosphorylation of MITA. Truncation assays indicated that the transmembrane (TM) region of VP41 was indispensable for the suppression of IFNpro activity. Finally, after infection with GCRV, VP41 blunted the transcription of host IFN and facilitated viral RNA synthesis. Taken together, our findings suggest that GCRV VP41 prevents the fish IFN response by attenuating the phosphorylation of MITA for viral evasion. MITA is thought to act as an adaptor protein to facilitate the phosphorylation of IRF3 by TBK1 upon viral infection, and it plays a critical role in innate antiviral responses. Here, we report that GCRV VP41 colocalizes with MITA at the ER and reduces MITA phosphorylation by acting as a decoy substrate of TBK1, thus inhibiting IFN production. These findings reveal GCRV's strategy for evading the host IFN response for the first time.
尽管鱼类拥有高效的干扰素(IFN)系统来抵御水生病毒感染,但草鱼呼肠孤病毒(GCRV)仍会在草鱼中引发出血性疾病。迄今为止,GCRV逃避鱼类IFN反应的策略仍不清楚。在此,我们报告GCRV VP41通过抑制干扰素调节因子3(IRF3)激活介质(MITA)的磷酸化来抑制鱼类IFN的产生。首先,VP41的过表达降低了线粒体抗病毒信号蛋白(MAVS)和MITA刺激的IFN启动子(IFNpro)的激活,而由TANK结合激酶1(TBK1)诱导的这种激活不受影响。其次,VP41定位于细胞内质网(ER)并与MITA相关。此外,作为TBK1的磷酸化底物,VP41显著降低了MITA的磷酸化。截短试验表明,VP41的跨膜(TM)区域对于抑制IFNpro活性是必不可少的。最后,感染GCRV后,VP41减弱了宿主IFN的转录并促进了病毒RNA的合成。综上所述,我们的研究结果表明,GCRV VP41通过减弱MITA的磷酸化来逃避鱼类IFN反应以利于病毒逃逸。MITA被认为是一种衔接蛋白,在病毒感染时促进TBK1对IRF3的磷酸化,并且它在先天性抗病毒反应中起关键作用。在此,我们报告GCRV VP41与MITA在内质网共定位,并通过作为TBK1的诱饵底物来减少MITA磷酸化,从而抑制IFN的产生。这些发现首次揭示了GCRV逃避宿主IFN反应的策略。