Mediator of IRF3 activation (MITA, also named as STING/ERIS/MPYS/TMEM173), is essential to DNA virus-or cytosolic DNA-triggered innate immune responses. In this study, we demonstrated the negative regulatory role of RING-finger protein (RNF) 90 in innate immune responses targeting MITA. RNF90 promoted K48-linked ubiquitination of MITA and its proteasome-dependent degradation. Overexpression of RNF90 inhibited HSV-1-or cytosolic DNA-induced immune responses whereas RNF90 knockdown had the opposite effects. Moreover, RNF90-deficient bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs), bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) exhibited increased DNA virus-or cytosolic DNA-triggered signaling and RNF90 deficiency protected mice from DNA virus infection. Taken together, our findings suggested a novel function of RNF90 in innate immunity. OPEN ACCESS Citation: Yang B, Liu Y, Cui Y, Song D, Zhang G, Ma S, et al. (2020) RNF90 negatively regulates cellular antiviral responses by targeting MITA for degradation. PLoS Pathog 16(3): e1008387.