Interferon stimulated gene ISG20 induces an innate immune defense signature in primary human fibroblasts [RNA-Seq]

ISG20 is an interferon-regulated protein that exhibits RNase activity thereby inhibiting the replication of a broad spectrum of RNA viruses. We identified ISG20 as a potential restriction factor against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) that inhibits HCMV gene expression at the early stage of infection. However, neither the half-life of viral nor of cellular RNAs nor of viral DNA was decreased in ISG20-expressing cells. Instead, RNA-seq analysis revealed an innate immune defense signature upon ISG20 expression that comprised a distinct set of interferon-stimulated genes, zinc finger proteins and transposable elements. Overall design: Lentiviral vectors were used to generate primary human fibroblasts (HFF) with doxycycline-inducible overexpression of ISG20 (HFF/ISG20) alongside control cells (HFF/CTRL). HFF/ISG20 and HFF/CTRL were treated for 24 h with doxycycline before total RNA was isolated and subjected to mRNA sequencing. Results are derived from three biological replicates (rep_1, rep_2, rep_3).