On the cover: Plus-strand RNA viruses, including Dengue virus (DENV), induce membranous replication factories, but the impact of these intracellular alterations on the morphology and function of cellular organelles remains largely unknown. Chatel-Chaix et al. (pp. 342–356) show that the DENV nonstructural protein (NS)4B, a promising drug target with unknown function, associates with mitochondrial proteins and alters mitochondria morphology to promote infection. NS4B induces elongated mitochondria by inactivating the fission factor DRP1. This mitochondrial elongation results in physical contacts between virus-induced replication factories and mitochondria and dampens the early interferon response to favor virus replication. The cover shows a 3D reconstruction of liver carcinoma cells stably expressing a mitochondria-targeted fluorophore (cyan) and infected with DENV (red). Adapted from Cell Press.
