Fig. 1.

Regulation of mitochondrial machineries by viruses to antagonize immune defense. Viral infection triggers antiviral immunity in host cells leading to the production of antiviral IFNs. Mitochondria play crucial roles in antiviral immunity. In order to evade antiviral immunity, viruses target interfering mitochondrial function or causing mitochondrial elimination (mitophagy). Several major strategies are developed by viruses to achieve the goals. These include at least the disturbance of mitochondrial dynamics, the induction of mitophagy, the suppression of mtDNA copy number or interfering mtDNA-mediated effects as well as the regulation of apoptotic processes. stands for inducing and stands for suppressing.