Tracking a virus as it lands on a live cell…
Would you like to know how herpes simplex virus (HSV) behaves when it establishes contact with a potential host cell? Check out our new publication in viruses by Yara and Lifeng where we used single particle tracking on live cells to follow herpes simplex as it lands on a target cell!
This work takes fully advantage of an advanced single particle tracking and data analysis procedure established in the lab by Yara to follow a virus during its first minutes after landing. It further correlates diffusion behavior to entry efficiency thanks to Lifeng’s infection experiments, thereby providing a beautiful example of the synergy that comes from combining advanced biophysics with classical virology investigations.
HSV diffusion at the cell surface is facilitated by a dense cluster of glycans on the viral glycoprotein, forming a so-called mucin-like domain. Our lab has focused on studying the role of mucin-like domains in modulating virus-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) interactions for many years and these newest results further confirm early hypotheses stemming from in vitro experiments on model membranes. In addition to this, we show that initial virus diffusion is highly dependent on the cell’s GAGs profile*, and that some types of GAGs facilitate fast and free diffusion at the cell surface while other GAGs contribute to confining the motion of virions; perhaps to facilitate their transfer to an entry receptor? We think that it is an exciting finding as it suggests that the virus may take advantage of differences in GAG composition at the periphery of the glycocalyx (the sugar forest covering our cells) versus the membrane-proximal GAGs to efficiently navigate through the glycocalyx to reach the point of entry (see the figure below). We will certainly look more into this aspect in the future! Meanwhile, congratulations to Yara, Lifeng and everyone else for their great work. Thank you also to our collaborators in Gothenburg (Tomas Bergstgröm, Sigvard Olofsson) for their enthusiasm and active input!
You can read our publication here!
*GAGs are the first interaction partner of herpes simplex virus among many more