Evolutionarily related small viral fusogens hijack distinct but modular actin nucleation pathways to drive cell-cell fusion.

ABSTRACT: Fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins are a diverse family of nonstructural viral proteins. Once expressed on the plasma membrane of infected cells, they drive fusion with neighboring cells, increasing viral spread and pathogenicity. Unlike viral fusogens with tall ectodomains that pull two membranes together through conformational changes, FAST proteins have short fusogenic ectodomains that cannot bridge the intermembrane gap between neighboring cells. One orthoreovirus FAST protein, p14, has been shown to hijack the actin cytoskeleton to drive cell-cell fusion, but the actin adaptor-binding motif identified in p14 is not found in any other FAST protein. Here, we report that an evolutionarily divergent FAST protein, p22 from aquareovirus, also hijacks the actin cytoskeleto

SUBMITTER: Chan KMC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7817207 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature