Rotavirus NSP1 inhibits interferon induced non-canonical NFκB activation by interacting with TNF receptor associated factor 2

•Rotavirus (RV) NSP1 interacts with TRAF2.•This interaction results TRAF2 degradation.•The degradation is proteasome dependent.•TRAF2 degradation by RV inhibits IFN induced non-canonical NFκB activation.

TNF receptor associated factor 2 (TRAF2) plays a very important role in cellular innate immune as well as inflammatory responses. Previous studies have reported TRAF2 mediated regulation of TNF and Interferon (IFN) induced canonical and non-canonical activation of NFκB. In this study, we show that rotavirus NSP1 targets TRAF2 to regulate IFN induced non-canonical NFκB activation. Here we found that rotavirus Non-Structural Protein-1 (NSP1) interacts with TRAF2 and degrades it in a proteasome dependent manner. C-terminal part of NSP1 was sufficient for interacting with TRAF2 but it alone could not degrade TRAF2. This inhibition of interferon mediated non-canonical NFκB activation by NSP1 may modulate inflammatory cytokine production after rotavirus infection to help the virus propagation.