Selective cleavage of FAM134B by Dengue, Zika, and West Nile virus encoded protease NS2B3 leads to the increased production of infection units, whereas upregulation of FAM134B inhibits viral replication.
Consistent with its role as an antiviral host factor, we found that several flaviviruses including DENV, ZIKV, and West Nile virus (WNV), utilize their NS3 virally-encoded proteases to directly cleave FAM134B at a single site within its reticulon homology domain (RHD).