Wt C57BL/6, C57BL/10 and 129Sv mice, as well as all knockout mice were bred under SPF conditions at the MPI. Breeding pairs of IRF-3 2/2 and IRF-7 2/2 mice were kindly provided by T. Taniguchi [54] were on a C57BL/6 background, TLR2/4-deficient mice [95] on C57BL/10 background and IFNabR-deficient mice [96] on 129Sv and for the lethality experiments on C57BL/6 background. When the strain of the mouse was not indicated C57BL/6 mice were used. Mice of both sexes, 8-12 weeks of age were used for the experiments. All of the experimental procedures were in accordance with institutional, state and federal guidelines on animal welfare.