We therefore investigated the phosphorylation state of eIF2α during SFTSV infection over a 48-h time course and found a significant increase in the levels of phosphorylated eIF2α, but not of the total eIF2α proteins, at 48 h p.i. in SFTSV-infected cells compared to the mock-infected group (Fig. 3C), suggesting that the PERK pathway is activated upon SFTSV infection. This evidence concerns the gene EIF2AK3 and infection.