A Dicistrovirus-specific inducible antiviral response in Drosophila

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a good model to unravel the molecular mechanisms of innate immunity, and has led to some important discoveries on the sensing and signalling of microbial infections. The response of drosophila to virus infections remains poorly characterized, and appears to involve two facets. On one hand RNA interference (RNAi) involves the recognition and processing of dsRNA into small interfering (si) RNAs by the host ribonuclease Dicer-2 (Dcr-2), whereas on the other hand an inducible response controlled by the evolutionarily conserved JAK/STAT pathway contributes to the antiviral host defence. In order to clarify the contribution of the siRNA and JAK/STAT pathways to the control of viral infections, we have compared the resistance of flies wild-type or mutant for Dcr-2 or the JAK kinase Hopscotch (Hop) to infections by seven RNA or DNA viruses belonging to different families. Our results reveal a unique susceptibility of hop mutant flies to infection by DCV and CrPV, two members of the Dicistroviridae family. Genome-wide microarray analysis confirmed that different sets of genes were induced following infection by DCV (GSE2828) or two unrelated RNA viruses, FHV and SINV. Overall, our data reveal that RNAi is an efficient antiviral mechanism, operating against a large range of viruses, including a DNA virus. By contrast, the antiviral contribution of the JAK/STAT pathway appears to be virus-specific.

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Kemp C, Mueller S, Goto A, Barbier V, Paro S, Bonnay F, Dostert C, Troxler L, Hetru C, Meignin C, Pfeffer S, Hoffmann JA, Imler JL