Flavivirus induces and antagonizes antiviral RNA interference in both mammals and mosquitoes

Mosquito-borne flaviviruses maintain life cycles in mammals and mosquitoes. RNA interference (RNAi) has been demonstrated as an anti-flavivirus mechanism in mosquitoes; however, whether and how flavivirus induces and antagonizes RNAi-mediated antiviral immunity in mammals remains unknown. Here we showed that NS2A of Dengue virus-2 (DENV2) act as a viral suppressor of RNAi (VSR). When NS2A-mediated RNAi suppression was disabled, the resulting mutant DENV2 induced Dicer-dependent production of abundant DENV2-derived siRNAs in differentiated mammalian cells. Importantly, VSR-disabled DENV2 showed severe replication defects in mosquito and mammalian cells, and mice, which were rescued by the deficiency of RNAi. Moreover, NS2As of multiple flaviviruses act as VSRs in vitro and during viral infection in both organisms. Overall, our findings demonstrate that antiviral RNAi can be induced by flavivirus, while flavivirus uses NS2A as bona fide VSR to evade RNAi in mammals and mosquitoes, highlighting the importance of RNAi in flaviviral vector-host life cycles. Small RNA profile of virus-infected cells.