TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 and its variant polymorphisms on host responses and viral pathogenesis
AU - Kehrer, Thomas
AU - Cupic, Anastasija
AU - Ye, Chengjin
AU - Yildiz, Soner
AU - Bouhaddou, Mehdi
AU - Crossland, Nicholas A.
AU - Barrall, Erika A.
AU - Cohen, Phillip
AU - Tseng, Anna
AU - Çağatay, Tolga
AU - Rathnasinghe, Raveen
AU - Flores, Daniel
AU - Jangra, Sonia
AU - Alam, Fahmida
AU - Mena, Ignacio
AU - Aslam, Sadaf
AU - Saqi, Anjali
AU - Rutkowska, Magdalena
AU - Ummadi, Manisha R.
AU - Pisanelli, Giuseppe
AU - Richardson, R. Blake
AU - Veit, Ethan C.
AU - Fabius, Jacqueline M.
AU - Soucheray, Margaret
AU - Polacco, Benjamin J.
AU - Ak, Baran
AU - Marin, Arturo
AU - Evans, Matthew J.
AU - Swaney, Danielle L.
AU - Gonzalez-Reiche, Ana S.
AU - Sordillo, Emilia M.
AU - van Bakel, Harm
AU - Simon, Viviana
AU - Zuliani-Alvarez, Lorena
AU - Fontoura, Beatriz M.A.
AU - Rosenberg, Brad R.
AU - Krogan, Nevan J.
AU - Martinez-Sobrido, Luis
AU - García-Sastre, Adolfo
AU - Miorin, Lisa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/10/11
Y1 - 2023/10/11
N2 - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) encodes several proteins that inhibit host interferon responses. Among these, ORF6 antagonizes interferon signaling by disrupting nucleocytoplasmic trafficking through interactions with the nuclear pore complex components Nup98-Rae1. However, the roles and contributions of ORF6 during physiological infection remain unexplored. We assessed the role of ORF6 during infection using recombinant viruses carrying a deletion or loss-of-function (LoF) mutation in ORF6. ORF6 plays key roles in interferon antagonism and viral pathogenesis by interfering with nuclear import and specifically the translocation of IRF and STAT transcription factors. Additionally, ORF6 inhibits cellular mRNA export, resulting in the remodeling of the host cell proteome, and regulates viral protein expression. Interestingly, the ORF6:D61L mutation that emerged in the Omicron BA.2 and BA.4 variants exhibits reduced interactions with Nup98-Rae1 and consequently impairs immune evasion. Our findings highlight the role of ORF6 in antagonizing innate immunity and emphasize the importance of studying the immune evasion strategies of SARS-CoV-2.
AB - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) encodes several proteins that inhibit host interferon responses. Among these, ORF6 antagonizes interferon signaling by disrupting nucleocytoplasmic trafficking through interactions with the nuclear pore complex components Nup98-Rae1. However, the roles and contributions of ORF6 during physiological infection remain unexplored. We assessed the role of ORF6 during infection using recombinant viruses carrying a deletion or loss-of-function (LoF) mutation in ORF6. ORF6 plays key roles in interferon antagonism and viral pathogenesis by interfering with nuclear import and specifically the translocation of IRF and STAT transcription factors. Additionally, ORF6 inhibits cellular mRNA export, resulting in the remodeling of the host cell proteome, and regulates viral protein expression. Interestingly, the ORF6:D61L mutation that emerged in the Omicron BA.2 and BA.4 variants exhibits reduced interactions with Nup98-Rae1 and consequently impairs immune evasion. Our findings highlight the role of ORF6 in antagonizing innate immunity and emphasize the importance of studying the immune evasion strategies of SARS-CoV-2.
KW - ORF6
KW - Omicron variant
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis
KW - interferon
KW - mRNA export
KW - nuclear import
KW - nucleocytoplasmic trafficking
KW - virus-host interaction
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U2 - 10.1016/j.chom.2023.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.chom.2023.08.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 37738983
AN - SCOPUS:85173049322
SN - 1931-3128
VL - 31
SP - 1668-1684.e12
JO - Cell Host and Microbe
JF - Cell Host and Microbe
IS - 10
ER -