Influenza Virus Infection Induces Host Pyruvate Kinase M Which Interacts with Viral RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase.

Influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is a heterotrimer of three viral proteins, PB1, PB2, and PA and is involved in both transcription and replication of the negative strand of the viral RNA (vRNA) genome. RdRp is multifunctional, possessing RNA polymerase, cap binding, and endonuclease activities. The enzyme synthesizes three different RNAs, complementary RNA (cRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) from vRNA, and vRNA from cRNA. To synthesize these three RNAs, RdRp requires conversion of its function by host factor. Here, we performed yeast two-hybrid screening to identify the relevant host factor, revealing that pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) interacted with the PA subunit of influenza virus RdRp. PKM2 is one of two enzymes (PKM1 and PKM2) produced by alternative splicing of the pyruvate kinase M (