phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:2295 DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-38449-x Fibroblasts are a site of murine cytomegalovirus lytic replication and Stat1-dependent latent persistence in vivo To date, no herpesvirus has been shown to latently persist in fibroblastic cells. Here, we show that murine cytomegalovirus, a β-herpesvirus, persists for the long term and across organs in PDGFRα-positive fibroblastic cells, with similar or higher genome loads than in the previously known sites of murine cytomegalovirus latency. Whereas murine cytomegalovirus gene transcription in PDGFRα-positive fibroblastic cells is almost completely silenced at 5 months post-infection, these cells give rise to reactivated virus ex vivo, arguing that they support latent murine cytomegalovirus infection. Notably, PDGFRα-positive fibroblastic cells also support productive virus replication during primary murine cytomegalovirus infection. Mechanistically, Stat1-deficiency promotes lytic infection but abolishes latent persistence of murine cytomegalovirus in PDGFRα-positive fibroblastic cells in vivo. In sum, fibroblastic cells have a dual role as a site of lytic murine cytomegalovirus replication and a reservoir of latent murine cytomegalovirus in vivo and STAT1 is required for murine cytomegalovirus latent persistence in vivo. eng Virus Infection; Cells; Reactivation; Establishment; Pathogenesis; Macrophage; Growth; Gamma 2023-11-10T09:57:12.032Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Sitnik;Katarzyna M.; FN:Katarzyna M. Sitnik X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6965-0322 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Čičin-Šain;Luka; FN:Luka Čičin-Šain X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3978-778X END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Brizić;Ilija; FN:Ilija Brizić X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8839-7839 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Kim;Yeonsu; FN:Yeonsu Kim END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Maaß;Henrike; FN:Henrike Maaß X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4654-5423 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Kubsch;Tobias; FN:Tobias Kubsch END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Rand;Ulfert; FN:Ulfert Rand X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5946-4921 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Krstanović;Fran; FN:Fran Krstanović X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2779-0359 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Gödecke;Natascha; FN:Natascha Gödecke X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6578-6601 END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 2396253 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2295 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:2295/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline