In mammals, the signaling adaptor mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a critical determinant in antiviral innate immunity. However, because of the lack of in vivo data, the physiological function of zebrafish mavs in response to viral infection is still not determined. In this study, we demonstrate that the long splicing isoform of zebrafish mavs promotes IFN regulatory factor 3 signaling and NF-κB signaling. Overexpression of this isoform of mavs enhances cellular antiviral responses. Disruption of mavs in zebrafish attenuates survival ratio on challenge with spring viremia of carp virus. Consistently, the antiviral-responsive genes and inflammatory genes are significantly reduced, and the replication of spring viremia of carp virus is increased in mavs-null zebrafish. Therefore, we provide in vivo evidence to support that zebrafish mavs is essential for antiviral innate immunity, similar to mammalian MAVS.
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