The Relationship between DUGBE Virus Infection and Autophagy in Epithelial Cells

Dugbe orthonairovirus (DUGV) is a tick-borne arbovirus within the order Bunyavirales. Although displaying mild pathogenic potential, DUGV is genetically related to the Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), another orthonairovirus that causes severe liver dysfunction and hemorrhagic fever with a high mortality rate in humans. As we previously observed that CCHFV infection could massively recruit and lipidate MAP1LC3 (LC3), a core factor involved in the autophagic degradation of cytosolic components, we asked whether DUGV infection also substantially impacts the autophagy machinery in epithelial cells. We observed that DUGV infection does impose LC3 lipidation in cultured hepatocytes. DUGV infection also caused an upregulation of the MAP1LC3 and SQSTM1/p62 transcript levels, which were, however, more moderate than those seen during CCHFV infection. In contrast, unlike during CCHFV infection, the modulation of core autophagy factors could influence both LC3 lipidation and viral particle production: the silencing of ATG5 and/or ATG7 diminished the induction of LC3 lipidation and slightly upregulated the level of infectious DUGV particle production. Overall, the results are compatible with the notion that in epithelial cells infected with DUGV in vitro, the autophagy machinery may be recruited to exert a certain level of restriction on viral replication. Thus, the relationship between DUGV infection and autophagy in epithelial cells appears to present both similarities and distinctions with that seen during CCHFV infection.