A number of studies were also performed to investigate the physiological role of SARM1 in the CNS against microbial infection, showing that infecting the CNS of Sarm1−/− mice with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV, commonly used as a model for neurotropic viral infection), but not Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and influenza virus, restricts viral infection by decreasing cytokine production, suggesting an up-regulatory role of SARM1 in cytokine production (Hou et al., 2013). The gene discussed is SARM1; the disease is viral infectious disease.