Project Details
Projekt
Budding of Marburg virus
Applicant
Professor Dr. Stephan Becker
Subject Area
Virology
Term
from 2005 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13165805
The envelopment of viral nucleocapsids with cellular membranes and the subsequent release of viral particles from the infected cell (budding) is a process that is just at the beginning of being understood. It only recently turned out that a complex cellular budding machinery is necessary for the budding of some viruses e.g. filoviruses and retroviruses. Key player for the budding of filoviruses is the viral matrix protein VP40 that on the one hand orchestrates the assembly of the viral building blocks (nucleocapsid and envelope) and on the other hand interacts with the cellular budding machinery. VP40 usurps membranes of the late endosomal compartment (multivesicular bodies) for its own transport to the sites of budding (plasma membrane or multivesicular bodies). Moreover, VP40 recruits the viral surface protein GP and host cell-derived lipids to multivesicular bodies in the periphery of the cells, which become platforms for the formation of the viral envelope. Finally, VP40 induces the formation of filamentous virus-like particles which are released into the medium and closely resemble viral particles. To understand the budding process of Marburgvirus in more detail we will address following questions: (i) How does Marburgvirus VP40 precisely interact with the cellular budding machinery? (ii) How do the viral proteins NP, VP24, and GP influence budding? (iii) What is the exact lipid composition of the viral envelope and how is its composition regulated? (iv) How is VP40 organized in space to induce the filamentous form of VLPs and viral particles? (v) Does the site of budding influence the infectivity of filoviruses?
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
