Mapping of tetraspanin-enriched microdomains that can function as gateways for HIV-1.

ABSTRACT: Specific spatial arrangements of proteins and lipids are central to the coordination of many biological processes. Tetraspanins have been proposed to laterally organize cellular membranes via specific associations with each other and with distinct integrins. Here, we reveal the presence of tetraspanin-enriched microdomains (TEMs) containing the tetraspanins CD9, CD63, CD81, and CD82 at the plasma membrane. Fluorescence and immunoelectron microscopic analyses document that the surface of HeLa cells is covered by several hundred TEMs, each extending over a few hundred nanometers and containing predominantly two or more tetraspanins. Further, we reveal that the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag protein, which directs viral assembly and release, accumulates at surface TEMs togeth

SUBMITTER: Nydegger S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2063894 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature