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Membrane rupture as an alternative membrane assembly pathway

Subject Area Biochemistry
Term from 2013 to 2016
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 229552073
 
Final Report Year 2017

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the application was to understand the molecular mechanism of membrane assembly of large DNA viruses of the nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus (NCLDV) family. Rather than budding these viruses acquire their membrane by the rupture of cellular membranes; the open intermediates are then used to build the viral membrane. Within the frame of this proposal we could show, using advanced electron microscopy techniques, that all members of the NCLDVs we studied use this same unconventional mechanism suggesting they share a common molecular machinery. For one of its members, vaccinia virus (VACV), we subsequently identified a single viral protein required for membrane rupture and thus for assembly. We have started to clone this protein in order to express and purify it and analyse its structure by cryo-EM. Within the frame of this proposal we also showed that the membrane of purified virions is enriched in certain lipids and speculate that these could also be involved in the unusual membrane biogenesis. We have started a new series of experiments, funded by a joint ANR/DFG grant to test this hypothesis by expressing the VACV protein in liposomes of defined lipid composition.

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