Nipah virus infection and plasma membrane clusters: The functional importance of an unconventional viral compartment

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Andrea Susanne Maisner
• Subject Area: Virology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556049980

Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic RNA virus that causes severe respiratory and encephalitic diseases. Due to its high pathogenicity and lack of prophylactic and therapeutic options, NiV is listed on the "WHO Blueprint List of Priority Diseases". Identification of potential targets is necessary for future development of antiviral strategies, and this requires a deeper molecular understanding of how NiV replicates and assembles infectious particles. This project, which builds on our previous work, aims to fill gaps in basic knowledge by focusing on the investigation of an unconventional nipahviral compartment. The so-called PM clusters are virus-induced structures at the plasma membrane of NiV-infected cells, which we discovered a few years ago and which have not yet been described in any other RNA virus infection. The functional role of PM clusters in the NiV life cycle is still unknown, but since they are found in virtually every NiV-infected cell and concentrate viral nucleocapsids and NiV matrix proteins near the cell surface, we assume that PM clusters are essential for virus assembly and infectious particle release. To substantiate this idea, we will investigate the functional and structural prerequisites for cluster formation and will test inhibitors targeting PM clusters for their potential to interfere with the release of infectious NiV particles. To specify the fundamental findings on nipahviral PM clusters and to gain insight into cell type-specific variations, the link between productive virus spread and PM cluster formation will be studied in primary cell types, which are key targets during NiV infection in vivo. Overall, this project is expected to provide new and fundamental cell biological insights into the function and structure of a so far unique subcellular viral compartment formed by highly pathogenic NiV, which may be a potential target for future antiviral therapies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants