ECSIT bridges RIG-I-like receptors to VISA in signaling events of innate antiviral responses.

Upon binding to RNA structures from invading viruses, RIG-I and MDA5 are recruited to mitochondria to interact with VISA and initiate antiviral type I interferon (IFN) responses. How this process is mediated is less understood. In this report, we demonstrate that ECSIT is an essential scaffolding protein that mediates the association of VISA and RIG-I or MDA5. Overexpression of ECSIT potentiated virus-triggered activation of IFN-regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and expression of IFNB1, whereas knockdown of ECSIT impaired viral infection-induced activation of IRF3 and expression of IFNB1 as well as cellular antiviral responses. Mechanistically, ECSIT was associated with VISA on mitochondria and important for bridging RIG-I and MDA5 to VISA. Our findings suggest that ECSIT mediates virus-triggered type I IFN induction by bridging RIG-I and MDA5 to the VISA complex, and provide new insights into the molecular events of innate antiviral immune responses.

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