<i>Dicer^d/d</i> mice are hypersusceptible to acute MCMV infection.

<p>A. Survival curve of control mice (+/+, black spots), <i>Dicer^d/d</i> (white spots) and BALB/c animals (black squares) upon acute MCMV infection (5×10⁵ pfu/mouse). B. Absolute quantification of the MCMV genome by qPCR in infected wild-type mice (+/+) and <i>Dicer^d/d</i> mutants. C. IFN-β quantification by ELISA in the serum of controls (+/+) and mutants 36 hours post-infection (h.p.i). D. Quantification of activated NK cells (NKp46+/IFN-γ+) in the spleen of non-infected (NI) and infected controls (+/+) and Dicer d/d mice 72 h.p.i. 6 animals/group were used. E. Snapshot images showing MCMV-derived luminescence 1 (D1) and 4 days (D4) upon MCMV-Luc infection of controls (+/+) and <i>Dicer^d/d</i> mice. F. Time-course analysis of the luminescence quantification in MCMV-Luc infected controls (n = 6 +/+; black spots) and mutants (n = 5; dotted line and white spots).