September 10, 2013
This article is republished from Yale News. For questions, please contact Bill Hathaway at william.hathaway@yale.edu.
Viruses such as West Nile and dengue have an intriguing way to hijack cells once they have been internalized by the cell. The illustration shows a flavivirus invading a cell by fusing its lipid membrane with the membrane of an endosome, which delivers the viral genetic material into the cytoplasm for replication. The timing and mechanism of this fusion event are described in a new studyin the journal PLOS Pathogens.
For a movie describing the viral tricks, visit the website.