Influenza A virus uses the aggresome processing machinery for host cell entry

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1257037
• Publication Date: 2014-10-23T21:07:45Z
• Authors: Indranil Banerjee; Yasuyuki Miyake; Samuel Philip Nobs; Christoph Schneider; Peter Horvath; Manfred Kopf; Patrick Matthias; Ari Helenius; Yohei Yamauchi
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Protein Folding; Protein Structure; Knockout; Inbred C57BL; Virus Replication; Research Support; Histone Deacetylase 6; Membrane Fusion; Microtubules; Histone Deacetylases; Cell Line; N.I.H.; Gene Knockout Techniques; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Capsid; Cell Line, Tumor; Influenza, Human; Journal Article; Animals; Humans; Non-U.S. Gov't; Cell Nucleus; Mice, Knockout; Myosin Type II; Tumor; Ubiquitin; Extramural; Dyneins; Dynactin Complex; Virus Internalization; Influenza; 3. Good health; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Ribonucleoproteins; Influenza A virus; Host-Pathogen Interactions; RNA Interference; Microtubule-Associated Proteins; Tertiary; Human; Protein Binding

Flu mimics damaged proteins during entry

Viruses are master manipulators. The early stages of how flu viruses enter cells are very well understood, but Banerjee et al. describe a new wrinkle (see the Perspective by Rajsbaum and García-Sastre). It seems that the virus carries with it into the cell ubiquitin: a molecule involved in marking proteins for destruction. The virus then exploits host cell machinery involved in recognizing and dealing with damaged proteins to uncoat its own RNA genome, ready to continue its path toward successful infection.

Science , this issue p. 473 ; see also p. 427