Identification of a novel biological role of arenavirus NP exonuclease (exoN) activity in a safe Pichinde virus model

Abstract Arenaviruses such as Lassa virus (LASV) and Junin virus (JUNV) can cause lethal hemorrhagic fever diseases with no FDA-approved vaccines or effective therapeutics. The arenaviral nucleoprotein (NP) contains an exoribonuclease (exoN) domain that suppresses type I interferon (IFN-I) production by degrading pathogen-associated molecular-pattern (PAMP) RNAs. The biological roles of NP exoN during viral infection have not been well characterized for highly pathogenic arenaviruses, largely due to biosafety constraints and challenges in generating viable NP exoN mutants. We previously developed a recombinant tri-segmented viral vector (rP18tri) based on non-pathogenic Pichinde virus (PICV), which allows functional studies of transgenes during arenavirus infection in a BSL-2 setting. In this study, we introduced point mutations at individual catalytic residues to abolish PICV NP exoN activity and generated exoN-deficient rP18tri(NPm) reporter viruses. These mutants failed to replicate in IFN-competent A549 cells, accompanied by strong IFN-I induction. Expression of wild-type (WT) JUNV NP, but not its exoN-deficient mutant, in the rP18tri(NPm)-G backbone restored single-cycle infectivity and suppressed IFN-I induction. Furthermore, exoN-deficient viruses produced disproportionately high levels of defective virion particles relative to virion RNA from infected A549 cells, a defect that was rescued by expression of WT JUNV NP but not the exoN-deficient NP as a transgene. Together, these data demonstrate an essential role of NP exoN in IFN-I suppression and identify a novel biological function of NP exoN in promoting the production of infectious virion particles in IFN-competent cells. Importance Arenaviruses, such as Junin virus (JUNV), can cause severe viral hemorrhagic fever in humans, with no FDA-approved vaccines or effective therapeutics. Arenaviral nucleoprotein (NP) contains an exoribonuclease domain (exoN), which helps to evade the host immune system by blocking the production of type I interferons (IFNs). However, the biological role of NP exoN in arenavirus infection is not well understood. In this study, we used a recombinant, tri-segmented non-pathogenic Pichinde virus (PICV) with NP exoN mutations as a safe and infectious arenavirus vector to express JUNV NP as a transgene. We found that JUNV NP exoN plays a key role in suppressing IFN-I responses and discovered a previously unrecognized function of exoN in producing infectious virion particles in IFN-competent cells. These findings improve our understanding of arenavirus infection and identify NP exoN as a promising target for developing new antiviral therapies.