Autophagy plays many physiological and pathophysiological roles. However, the roles and the regulatory mechanisms of autophagy in response to viral infections are poorly defined in teleost fish, such as grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), which is one of the most important aquaculture species in China. In this study, we found that both grass carp reovirus (GCRV) infection and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) treatment induced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in C. idella kidney cells and stimulate autophagy. Suppressing ROS accumulation with N-acetyl-L-cysteine significantly inhibited GCRVinduced autophagy activation and enhanced GCRV replication. Although ROS-induced autophagy, in turn, restricted GCRV replication, further investigation revealed that the multifunctional cellular protein high-mobility group box 1b (HMGB1b) serves as a heat shock protein 70 (HSP70)-dependent, pro-autophagic protein in grass carp. Upon H 2 O 2 treatment, cytoplasmic HSP70 translocated to the nucleus, where it interacted with HMGB1b and promoted cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1b. Overexpression and siRNA-mediated knockdown assays indicated that HSP70 and HMGB1b synergistically enhance ROS-induced autophagic activation in the cytoplasm. Moreover, HSP70 reinforced an association of HMGB1b with the C. idella ortholog of Beclin 1 (a mammalian ortholog of the autophagy-associated yeast protein ATG6) by directly interacting with C. idella Beclin 1. In summary, this study highlights the antiviral function of ROS-induced autophagy in response to GCRV infection and reveals the positive role of HSP70 in HMGB1b-mediated autophagy initiation in teleost fish.Autophagy is a fundamental mechanism by which cells degrade dysfunctional organelles, misfolded proteins, and other macromolecules and recycle nutrients from unnecessary cellular components (1-3). Under normal conditions, auto-2 The abbreviations used are: ROS, reactive oxygen species; HSP, heat shock . 16 h after transfection, the cells were treated with 0.15 mM H 2 O 2 , 100 nM rapamycin, or an equal volume of PBS (control) for 24 h. Then the cells were fixed with 10% paraformaldehyde and stained with Hoechst 33342. Finally, the samples were visualized by confocal microscopy. The GFP-LC3 puncta indicate autophagosomes. B, H 2 O 2 promotes fusion between GFP-LC3-labeled autophagosomes and RFP-LAMP2-labeled lysosomes. CIK cells were cotransfected with GFP-LC3 and RFP-LAMP2. Then the cells were treated with rapamycin or H 2 O 2 and prepared for confocal microscopy as described above. The colocalization between GFP-LC3 and RFP-LAMP2 represents autolysosomes. C, quantifying the percentage of cells with autophagosomes and autolysosomes. Autophagosomes were quantified by the number of cells with at least five GFP-LC3-postive puncta per cell, accounting for the GFP-LC3-positive cells. Autolysosomes were calculated as the quantity of cells with GFP-LC3 and RFP-LAMP2 co-localization, accounting for all GFP-LC3 and RFP-LAMP2cotransfected cells. Mean Ϯ S.D.; **, p Ͻ 0.01 compared with...