Abstract
The vaccine strain against smallpox, vaccinia virus (VACV), is highly immunogenic yet causes relatively benign disease. These attributes are believed to be caused by gene loss in VACV. Using a targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) screen, we identified a viral inhibitor found in cowpox virus (CPXV) and other orthopoxviruses that bound to the host SKP1-Cullin1-F-box (SCF) machinery and the essential necroptosis kinase receptor interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3). This "viral inducer of RIPK3 degradation" (vIRD) triggered ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated degradation of RIPK3 and inhibited necroptosis. In contrast to orthopoxviruses, the distantly related leporipoxvirus myxoma virus (MYXV), which infects RIPK3-deficient hosts, lacks a functional vIRD. Introduction of vIRD into VACV, which encodes a truncated and defective vIRD, enhanced viral replication in mice. Deletion of vIRD reduced CPXV-induced inflammation, viral replication, and mortality, which were reversed in RIPK3- and MLKL-deficient mice. Hence, vIRD-RIPK3 drives pathogen-host evolution and regulates virus-induced inflammation and pathogenesis.