Suppression of the antiviral response by an influenza "histone mimic"

Viral infection is commonly associated with virus-driven hijacking of host proteins. We describe a novel mechanism by which influenza virus impacts host cells through the interaction of influenza NS1 protein with the infected cell epigenome. We show that the NS1 protein of influenza A H3N2 target the transcription elongation PAF1 complex (hPAF1C). We demonstrate that binding of NS1 to hPAF1C results in suppression of hPAF1C-mediated transcriptional elongation. In the following data sets, we show that NS1 colocalizes with hPAF1 on the chromatin of infected cells and that siRNA-mediated reduction of hPAF1 expression results in reduced recruitment of NS1 to the chromatin. Examination of different histone modifications in infected cells and RNA-Seq and GRO-Seq transcript measurements.