Host DNA damage response facilitates African swine fever virus infection

Studies with different viral infection models on virus interactions with the host cell nucleus have opened new perspectives on our understanding of the molecular basis of these interactions in African swine fever virus (ASFV) infection. The present study aims to characterize the host DNA damage response (DDR) occurring upon in vitro infection with the ASFV-Ba71V isolate. We evaluated protein levels during ASFV time-course infection, of several signalling cascade factors belonging to DDR pathways involved in double strand break repair - Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM), ATM-Rad 3 related (ATR) and DNA dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs). DDR inhibitory trials using caffeine and wortmannin and ATR inducible-expression cell lines were used to confirm specific pathway activation during viral infection. Our results show that ASFV specifically elicits ATR-mediated pathway activation from the early phase of infection with increased levels of H2AX, RPA32, p53, ATR and Chk1 phosphorylated forms. Viral p72 synthesis was abrogated by ATR kinase inhibitors and also in ATR-kd cells. Furthermore, a reduction of viral progeny was identified in these cells when compared to the outcome of infection in ATR-wt. Overall, our results strongly suggest that the ATR pathway plays an essential role for successful ASFV infection of host cells.