Fig 4. Mavs^-/- mice are more susceptible to intranasal RVFV infection and display increased viral burden and immune gene expression in the brain.

WT or Mavs^-/- mice were infected intranasally with 1000 PFU RVFV ZH501 (A), or 5x10⁵ PFU RVFV MP-12 (B-E). Morbidity and mortality were assessed daily, and percent survival is depicted in (A). On day 7 post-infection (B-E), brains were processed for viral quantitation and RNA extraction. Viral quantitation by PFU (B) and genomic RNA (C). Genes differentially expressed between uninfected and infected brains (D). Functional enrichment of differentially expressed genes (E). Ontologies that were enriched in both WT and Mavs^-/- infected brains are highlighted in purple. Pathways enriched only in Mavs^-/- or WT infected brains are highlighted in red and blue, respectively. Heatmap of IFN ⍺/β signaling genes (F). *p<0.05, ***p<0.001.