Spring viraemia of carp virus induces autophagy for necessary viral replication

Outbreaks of spring viraemia of carp virus (SVCV) in several carp species and other cultivated fish can cause significant mortality and jeopardize the billion-dollar worldwide fish industry. Spring viraemia of carp virus, also known as Rhabdovirus carpio, is a bullet-shaped RNA virus that enters and amplifies in gill epithelium and later spreads to internal organs. Young fish under stressed conditions (spring cold water, etc.) are more vulnerable to SVCV-induced lethality because of their lack of a mature immune system. Currently, the host response of SVCV remains largely unknown. Here, we observed that autophagy is activated in SVCV-infected epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cells. We demonstrated that the SVCV glycoprotein, rather than viral replication, activates the autophagy pathway. In addition, SVCV utilized the autophagy pathway to facilitate its own genomic RNA replication and to enhance its titres in the supernatants. Autophagy promoted the survival of SVCV-infected cells by eliminating damaged mitochondrial DNA generated during viral infection. We further showed that SVCV induces autophagy in EPC cells through the ERK/mTOR signalling pathway. Our results reveal a connection between autophagy and SVCV replication and propose autophagy suppression as a novel means to restrict SVCV viral replication.