Duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1) is an important member of the Picornaviridae family that causes highly fatal hepatitis in ducklings. Since picornaviruses have small genomes with limited coding capacity, they must utilize host proteins for viral cap-independent translation and RNA replication. Here, we report the role of duck poly(rC)-binding protein 2 (PCBP2) in regulating the replication and translation of DHAV-1. During DHAV-1 infection, PCBP2 expression was found to be upregulated. By a biotinylated RNA pull-down assay, PCBP2 was found to positively regulate DHAV-1 translation through specific interactions with structural domains II and III of the DHAV-1 internal ribosome entry site (IRES). Further studies showed that PCBP2 promotes DHAV-1 replication via an interaction of its KH1 domain (aa 1-92) with DHAV-1 3D^pol. Thus, our studies demonstrated the specific role of PCBP2 in regulating DHAV-1 translation and replication, revealing a novel mechanism by which host‒virus interactions regulate viral translation and replication. These findings contribute to a further understanding of the pathogenesis of picornavirus infections. The related research has been published in the journal Veterinary Research under the title " Duck hepatitis A virus utilizes PCBP2 to facilitate viral translation and replication," and is accessible at the following DOI: https://doi: 10.1186/s13567-024-01369-9.