A DNA virus-encoded immune antagonist fully masks the potent antiviral activity of RNAi in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Coevolution of viruses and their hosts may lead to viral strategies to avoid, evade, or suppress antiviral immunity. An example is antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) in insects: the host RNAi machinery processes viral double-stranded RNA into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to suppress viral replication, whereas insect viruses encode suppressors of RNAi, many of which inhibit viral small interfering RNA (vsiRNA) production. Yet, many studies have analyzed viral RNAi suppressors in heterologous systems, due to the lack of experimental systems to manipulate the viral genome of interest, raising questions about in vivo functions of RNAi suppressors. To address this caveat, we generated an RNAi suppressor-defective mutant of invertebrate iridescent virus 6 (IIV6), a large DNA virus in which we

SUBMITTER: Bronkhorst AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6883776 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature