Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 1066: An Aedes Aegypti-Derived Ago2 Knockout Cell Line to Investigate Arbovirus Infections

Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 1066: An Aedes Aegypti-Derived Ago2 Knockout Cell Line to Investigate Arbovirus Infections Viruses doi: 10.3390/v13061066 Authors: Christina Scherer Jack Knowles Vattipally B. Sreenu Anthony C. Fredericks Janina Fuss Kevin Maringer Ana Fernandez-Sesma Andres Merits Margus Varjak Alain Kohl Esther Schnettler Mosquitoes are known as important vectors of many arthropod-borne (arbo)viruses causing disease in humans. These include dengue (DENV) and Zika (ZIKV) viruses. The exogenous small interfering (si)RNA (exo-siRNA) pathway is believed to be the main antiviral defense in arthropods, including mosquitoes. During infection, double-stranded RNAs that form during viral replication and infection are cleaved by the enzyme Dicer 2 (Dcr2) into virus-specific 21 nt vsiRNAs, which are subsequently loaded into Argonaute 2 (Ago2). Ago2 then targets and subsequently cleaves complementary RNA sequences, resulting in degradation of the target viral RNA. Although various studies using silencing approaches have supported the antiviral activity of the exo-siRNA pathway in mosquitoes, and despite strong similarities between the siRNA pathway in the Drosophila melanogaster model and mosquitoes, important questions remain unanswered. The antiviral activity of Ago2 against different arboviruses has been previously demonstrated. However, silencing of Ago2 had no effect on ZIKV replication, whereas Dcr2 knockout enhanced its replication. These findi...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research