Antiviral RNAi Response in Culex quinquefasciatus -Derived HSU Cells.

spp. mosquitoes are important vectors of viruses, such as West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis virus and Rift valley fever virus. However, their interactions with innate antiviral immunity, especially RNA interference (RNAi), are not well known. Most research on RNAi pathways in mosquitoes is focused on the tropical vector mosquito . Here, we investigated the production of arbovirus-specific small RNAs in -derived HSU cells. Furthermore, by silencing RNAi-related proteins, we investigated the antiviral role of these proteins for two different arboviruses: Semliki Forest virus (SFV) and Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus (BUNV). Our results showed an expansion of Ago2 and Piwi6 in compared to . While silencing Ago2a and Ago2b increased BUNV replication, only Ago2b showed antiviral activity against SFV. Our results suggest differences in the function of and RNAi proteins and highlight the virus-specific function of these proteins in .