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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Zooming in on virus surface protein mobility
    (London : Future Medicine Ltd, 2018) Chojnacki, Jakub; Eggeling, Christian
    [no abstract available]
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    HIV-1 Gag specifically restricts PI(4,5)P2 and cholesterol mobility in living cells creating a nanodomain platform for virus assembly
    (Washington D.C. : AAAS, 2019) Favard, C.; Chojnacki, Jakub; Merida, P.; Yandrapalli, N.; Mak, J.; Eggeling, Christian; Muriaux, D.
    HIV-1 Gag protein assembles at the plasma membrane of infected cells for viral particle formation. Gag targets lipids, mainly PI(4,5)P2, at the inner leaflet of this membrane. Here, we address the question whether Gag is able to trap specifically PI(4,5)P2 or other lipids during HIV-1 assembly in the host CD4+ T lymphocytes. Lipid dynamics within and away from HIV-1 assembly sites were determined using super-resolution microscopy coupled with scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in living cells. Analysis of HIV-1–infected cells revealed that, upon assembly, HIV-1 is able to specifically trap PI(4,5)P2 and cholesterol, but not phosphatidylethanolamine or sphingomyelin. Furthermore, our data showed that Gag is the main driving force to restrict the mobility of PI(4,5)P2 and cholesterol at the cell plasma membrane. This is the first direct evidence highlighting that HIV-1 creates its own specific lipid environment by selectively recruiting PI(4,5)P2 and cholesterol as a membrane nanoplatform for virus assembly.
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    Lipid Composition but Not Curvature Is the Determinant Factor for the Low Molecular Mobility Observed on the Membrane of Virus-Like Vesicles
    (Basel : MDPI, 2018) Urbančič, Iztok; Brun, Juliane; Shrestha, Dilip; Waithe, Dominic; Eggeling, Christian; Chojnacki, Jakub
    Human Immunodeficiency Virus type-1 (HIV-1) acquires its lipid membrane from the plasma membrane of the infected cell from which it buds out. Previous studies have shown that the HIV-1 envelope is an environment of very low mobility, with the diffusion of incorporated proteins two orders of magnitude slower than in the plasma membrane. One of the reasons for this difference is thought to be the HIV-1 membrane composition that is characterised by a high degree of rigidity and lipid packing, which has, until now, been difficult to assess experimentally. To further refine the model of the molecular mobility on the HIV-1 surface, we herein investigated the relative importance of membrane composition and curvature in simplified model membrane systems, large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) of different lipid compositions and sizes (0.1–1 µm), using super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy-based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (STED-FCS). Establishing an approach that is also applicable to measurements of molecule dynamics in virus-sized particles, we found, at least for the 0.1–1 µm sized vesicles, that the lipid composition and thus membrane rigidity, but not the curvature, play an important role in the decreased molecular mobility on the vesicles’ surface. This observation suggests that the composition of the envelope rather than the particle geometry contributes to the previously described low mobility of proteins on the HIV-1 surface. Our vesicle-based study thus provides further insight into the dynamic properties of the surface of individual HIV-1 particles, as well as paves the methodological way towards better characterisation of the properties and function of viral lipid envelopes in general.
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    Molecular recognition of the native HIV-1 MPER revealed by STED microscopy of single virions
    (Berlin : Nature Publishing, 2019) Carravilla, Pablo; Chojnacki, Jakub; Rujas, Edurne; Insausti, Sara; Largo, Eneko; Waithe, Dominic; Apellaniz, Beatriz; Sicard, Taylor; Julien, Jean-Philippe; Eggeling, Christian; Nieva, José L.
    Antibodies against the Membrane-Proximal External Region (MPER) of the Env gp41 subunit neutralize HIV-1 with exceptional breadth and potency. Due to the lack of knowledge on the MPER native structure and accessibility, different and exclusive models have been proposed for the molecular mechanism of MPER recognition by broadly neutralizing antibodies. Here, accessibility of antibodies to the native Env MPER on single virions has been addressed through STED microscopy. STED imaging of fluorescently labeled Fabs reveals a common pattern of native Env recognition for HIV-1 antibodies targeting MPER or the surface subunit gp120. In the case of anti-MPER antibodies, the process evolves with extra contribution of interactions with the viral lipid membrane to binding specificity. Our data provide biophysical insights into the recognition of the potent and broadly neutralizing MPER epitope on HIV virions, and as such is of importance for the design of therapeutic interventions.
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    Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy studies of human immunodeficiency virus
    (London : BioMed Central, 2018) Chojnacki, Jeremy; Eggeling, Christian
    Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy combines the ability to observe biological processes beyond the diffraction limit of conventional light microscopy with all advantages of the fluorescence readout such as labelling specificity and non-invasive live-cell imaging. Due to their subdiffraction size (< 200 nm) viruses are ideal candidates for super-resolution microscopy studies, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) is to date the most studied virus by this technique. This review outlines principles of different super-resolution techniques as well as their advantages and disadvantages for virological studies, especially in the context of live-cell imaging applications. We highlight the findings of super-resolution based HIV-1 studies performed so far, their contributions to the understanding of HIV-1 replication cycle and how the current advances in super-resolution microscopy may open new avenues for future virology research.