Cornelius Rohde (@crnlsrhd.bsky.social)

Cell-cell fusion limits activation of the unfolded protein response induced by the Nipah virus glycoproteins | Journal of Virology The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a cellular signaling pathway to counteract ER stress. Many enveloped viruses, which force the infected cell to synthesize high amounts of viral surface glycoproteins, induce the UPR but regulate its activation by diverse strategies to prevent UPR-mediated antiviral effects. To date, nothing is known about UPR activation in infections with Nipah virus (NiV), a highly pathogenic member of the Paramyxoviridae family. Here, we demonstrate that NiV glycoproteins activate the IRE1/XBP1 branch of the UPR. However, this activation is limited by the cell-cell fusion mediated by the glycoproteins, probably due to dilution effects. This study is the first to investigate the interplay between NiV and UPR activation and proposes a novel strategy by which fusogenic viruses may limit the ER stress responses triggered by their glycoproteins. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.01046-25