c RNA interference (RNAi) is an important antiviral defense response in plants and invertebrates; however, evidences for its contribution to mammalian antiviral defense are few. In the present study, we demonstrate the anti-dengue virus role of RNAi in mammalian cells. Dengue virus infection of Huh 7 cells decreased the mRNA levels of host RNAi factors, namely, Dicer, Drosha, Ago1, and Ago2, and in corollary, silencing of these genes in virus-infected cells enhanced dengue virus replication. In addition, we observed downregulation of many known human microRNAs (miRNAs) in response to viral infection. Using reversion-ofsilencing assays, we further showed that NS4B of all four dengue virus serotypes is a potent RNAi suppressor. We generated a series of deletion mutants and demonstrated that NS4B mediates RNAi suppression via its middle and C-terminal domains, namely, transmembrane domain 3 (TMD3) and TMD5. Importantly, the NS4B N-terminal region, including the signal sequence 2K, which has been implicated in interferon (IFN)-antagonistic properties, was not involved in mediating RNAi suppressor activity. Site-directed mutagenesis of conserved residues revealed that a Phe-to-Ala (F112A) mutation in the TMD3 region resulted in a significant reduction of the RNAi suppression activity. The green fluorescent protein (GFP)-small interfering RNA (siRNA) biogenesis of the GFP-silenced line was considerably reduced by wild-type NS4B, while the F112A mutant abrogated this reduction. These results were further confirmed by in vitro dicer assays. Together, our results suggest the involvement of miRNA/ RNAi pathways in dengue virus establishment and that dengue virus NS4B protein plays an important role in the modulation of the host RNAi/miRNA pathway to favor dengue virus replication.

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HIV-1 gene expression and replication largely depend on the regulatory proteins Tat and Rev, but it is unclear how the intracellular levels of these viral proteins are regulated after infection.Here we report that HIV-1 Rev causes specific degradation of cytoplasmic Tat, which results in inhibition of HIV-1 replication. The nuclear export signal (NES) region of Rev is crucial for this activity but is not involved in direct interactions with Tat. Rev reduces the levels of ubiquitinated forms of Tat, which have previously been reported to be important for its transcriptional properties. Tat is stabilized in the presence of NAD(P)H:quinine oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and potent degradation of Tat is induced by dicoumarol, an NQO1 inhibitor. Furthermore, Rev causes specific reduction in the levels of endogenous NQO1. Thus, we propose that Rev is able to induce degradation of Tat indirectly by downregulating NQO1 levels. Our findings have implications in HIV-1 gene expression and latency.