25Sensing of pathogens by specialized receptors is the hallmark of the innate immune response. 26Innate immune response also mounts a defense response against various allergens and pollutants 27 including particulate matter present in the atmosphere. Air pollution has been included as the top 28 threat to global health declared by WHO which aims to cover more than three billion people against 29 health emergencies from 2019-2023. Particulate matter (PM), one of the major components of air 30 pollution, is a significant risk factor for many human diseases and its adverse effects include 31 morbidity and premature deaths throughout the world. Several clinical and epidemiological studies 32 have identified a key link between the PM composition and the prevalence of respiratory and 33 inflammatory disorders. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. 34Here, we investigated the influence of air pollutant, PM10 during RNA virus infections using highly 35 pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). We thus characterized the transcriptomic profile of lung 36 epithelial cell line, A549 treated with PM10 prior to infection with (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus, 37 which is known to severely affect the lung and cause respiratory damage. We found that PM10 38 regulates virus infectivity and enhances overall pathogenic burden in the lung cells. Additionally, 39 the transcriptomic profile highlights the connection of host factors related to various metabolic 40 pathways and immune responses which were dysregulated during virus infection. Overall our 41 findings suggest a strong link between the prevalence of respiratory illness and the air quality. 42 43 44 45 Keywords: Particulate Matter (PM10), Virus Infection, Infectious Disease, Innate Immunity and 46 Metabolic Pathways-Related Genes. 47India and associated health concerns in term of occurrence of disease [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Although, most of 65 the studies were based on the epidemiological data and cross-sectional studies, there were few 66 studies about involvement of PM in respiratory diseases [20][21][22], asthma [23], cancer [24-27], 67 tuberculosis [28, 29] . It has been known that PM can induce innate immunity and can change the 68 level of cytokines, upon its exposure to the airways of humans [30][31][32][33]. PM were readily associated 69 with respiratory infections such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [34][35][36][37] and it 70 is also reported to be associated with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus 71infections. [38][39][40][41]. Yet these studies are limited to epidemiological, cross -sectional studies [22, 72 42-44]. 73Here, we isolated and characterized PM10 from a heavily industrialized city Bengaluru, India and 74 checked its effect on RNA virus infection. We observed and concluded that PM10 hijacks the innate 75 immune system upon viral infection and significantly enhanced the viral replication of the RNA 76 viruses like new-castle disease virus (NDV), influenza virus -H1N1 (PR8) and H5N1. By 77...