Viral journeys on the intracellular highways

Abstract

Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens that are dependent on cellular machineries for their replication. Recent technological breakthroughs have facilitated reliable identification of host factors required for viral infections and better characterization of the virus-host interplay. While these studies have revealed cellular machineries that are uniquely required by individual viruses, accumulating data also indicate the presence of broadly required mechanisms. Among these overlapping cellular functions are components of intracellular membrane trafficking pathways. Here, we review recent discoveries focused on how viruses exploit intracellular membrane trafficking pathways to promote various stages of their life cycle, with an emphasis on cellular factors that are usurped by a broad range of viruses. We describe broadly required components of the endocytic and secretory pathways, the Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport pathway, and the autophagy pathway. Identification of such overlapping host functions offers new opportunities to develop broad-spectrum host-targeted antiviral strategies.

Tracking Mechanisms of Viral Dissemination In Vivo

“…When hiding, the virus may either replicate in the host cell, or just be carried in an intracellular compartment of the circulating host cell. This latter strategy, however, is also hazardous for the virus, as the particles will need to escape the cell later on to disseminate, while avoiding being directed toward degradative endolysosomes [ 27 ]. Nevertheless, an associated benefit from subverting a blood cell is the possibility to hitch a ride incognito over long distances, opening the door to long-range dissemination.…”

Proteomic Profiling of Purified Rabies Virus Particles

“…As is well known, many viruses hijack cellular machinery via host-pathogen interactions to function in their replicative cycles (Robinson et al 2018). To better understand the biological significance of the host proteins ending up in mature rabies virions, functional predictions of the 49 virion-packaged cellular proteins were performed according to the Gene Ontology Database.…”

The Multifaceted Roles of Autophagy in Flavivirus-Host Interactions

“…These results collectively suggest that autophagy plays diverse roles in virus-host interactions by promoting viral replication via supporting membranous compartments, degrading infectious viruses via xenophagy, enhancing antiviral immunity by enhancing MHC-mediated antigen presentation, protecting infected cells from death and triggering viral infection induced by the elimination of T lymphocytes [9,11,13,395,396,397]. In the late 2000s, numerous studies demonstrated that autophagy is induced by Flaviviridae , among which HCV and DENV were the first shown to activate autophagy and thus benefit the viral life cycle [398,399,400]. To date, nearly one hundred studies have investigated the role of flavivirus-infected autophagy in the viral life cycle and host cell responses.…”