Baculovirus genes modulating intracellular innate antiviral immunity of lepidopteran insect cells

Innate immunity is essential for insects to survive infectious pathogens. In baculovirus-infected lepidopteran cells, apoptosis and global protein synthesis shutdown are major mechanisms of intracellular innate immunity that inhibit viral replication. In contrast, baculoviruses have evolved diverse genes and mechanisms to counter the antiviral immunity activated in infected cells. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the cellular antiviral pathways and the baculovirus genes that modulate antiviral immunity. The studies highlighted illustrate a high degree of diversity in both the cellular responses against viral infections and viral responses against intracellular antiviral immunity, providing an important basis of further studies in this field.

► Induction of global protein synthesis shutdown by baculoviruses. ► Modulation of global protein synthesis shutdown by baculovirus proteins. ► Induction of apoptosis by baculoviruses. ► Modulation of apoptosis by baculovirus apoptosis suppressors. ► Links between global translation arrest and apoptosis in NPV-infected Ld652Y cells.