Treatment with U73122, a PLC inhibitor, significantly reduced SFTSV infection of HEK293AXL and HEK293AXL-Y779/821A but not of HEK293AXL-Y866A, indicating that AXL-Y866A mutation inhibits SFTSV infection due to loss of PLC binding (Fig. 5J). This evidence concerns the gene HSPG2 and infection.