Ring-finger protein 34 facilitates nervous necrosis virus evading antiviral innate immunity by targeting TBK1 and IRF3 for ubiquitination and degradation

Abstract Ubiquitination, as one of the most prevalent posttranslational modifications of proteins, enables a tight control on host immune responses. Many viruses hijack the host ubiquitin system to regulate host antiviral responses for their survival. Here, we found that fish pathogen nervous necrosis virus (NNV) recruited an E3 ubiquitin ligase ring finger protein 34 (RNF34) to inhibit RLRs-mediated interferons (IFN) response via ubiquitinating TBK1 and IRF3. Ectopic expression of RNF34 greatly enhances NNV replication and prevents IFN production, while deficiency of RNF34 led to the opposite effect. Furthermore, RNF34 targets TBK1 and IRF3 via its RING domain. Of note, the interactions between RNF34 and TBK1 or IRF3 were conserved in different fish species. Mechanically, RNF34 promote K27-linked ubiquitination and degradation of TBK1 and IRF3, which in turn diminishing TBK1-induced translocation of IRF3 from cytoplasm to nucleus. Ultimately, NNV capsid protein (CP) was found directly bind with RNF34 and this interaction was conserved in different fishes, and CP induced TBK1 and IRF3 degradation and IFN suppression was depended on RNF34. Our finding demonstrated a novel mechanism by which NNV CP evaded host innate immunity via RNF34, and provided a potential drug target for the control of NNV infection. Author Summary Ubiquitination plays an essential role in the regulation of innate immune responses to pathogens. NNV, a kind of RNA virus, is the causal agent of a highly destructive disease in a variety of marine and freshwater fish. Previous study reported NNV could hijack the ubiquitin system to manipulate the host’s immune responses, however, how NNV utilizes ubiquitination to facilitate its own replication is not well understood. Here, we identified a novel distinct role of E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF34 as an IFN antagonist to promote NNV infection. Nervous necrosis virus capsid protein utilized RNF34 to target TBK1 and IRF3 for K27 and K48-linked ubiquitination degradation. Importantly, the interactions between RNF34 and CP, TBK1 or IRF3 are conserved in different fishes, suggesting it is a general immune evasion strategy exploited by NNV to target the IFN response via RNF34.