TY - JOUR
T1 - Infection-induced lysine lactylation enables herpesvirus immune evasion
AU - Tyl, Matthew D.
AU - Merengwa, Victoria U.
AU - Cristea, Ileana M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved
PY - 2025/1/10
Y1 - 2025/1/10
N2 - Aerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of many viral infections, leading to substantial accumulation of lactate. However, the regulatory roles of lactate during viral infections remain poorly understood. Here, we report that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection leverages lactate to induce widespread protein lactylation and promote viral spread. We establish that lactyllysine is enriched in intrinsically disordered regions, regulating viral protein condensates and immune signaling transduction. Dynamic lactylation of immune factors suppresses immunity, a feature we show to be shared for HCMV and herpes simplex virus 1 infections, through regulation of RNA binding protein 14 and interferon-γ–inducible protein 16 (IFI16). K90 lactylation of the viral DNA sensor IFI16 inhibits recruitment of the DNA damage response kinase DNA-PK, preventing IFI16-driven virus gene repression and cytokine induction. Together, we characterize global protein lactylation dynamics during virus infection, finding that virus-induced lactate contributes to its immune evasion through direct inhibition of immune signaling pathways.
AB - Aerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of many viral infections, leading to substantial accumulation of lactate. However, the regulatory roles of lactate during viral infections remain poorly understood. Here, we report that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection leverages lactate to induce widespread protein lactylation and promote viral spread. We establish that lactyllysine is enriched in intrinsically disordered regions, regulating viral protein condensates and immune signaling transduction. Dynamic lactylation of immune factors suppresses immunity, a feature we show to be shared for HCMV and herpes simplex virus 1 infections, through regulation of RNA binding protein 14 and interferon-γ–inducible protein 16 (IFI16). K90 lactylation of the viral DNA sensor IFI16 inhibits recruitment of the DNA damage response kinase DNA-PK, preventing IFI16-driven virus gene repression and cytokine induction. Together, we characterize global protein lactylation dynamics during virus infection, finding that virus-induced lactate contributes to its immune evasion through direct inhibition of immune signaling pathways.
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U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.ads6215
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.ads6215
M3 - Article
C2 - 39772686
AN - SCOPUS:85215074490
SN - 2375-2548
VL - 11
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
IS - 2
M1 - eads6215
ER -