A nano-view of West Nile virus-induced cellular changes during infection

BACKGROUND: Microscopic imaging of viruses and their interactions with and effects on host cells are frequently held back by limitations of the microscope's resolution or the invasive nature of the sample preparation procedures. It is also difficult to have a technique that would allow simultaneous imaging of both surface and sub-surface on the same cell. This has hampered endeavours to elucidate virus-host interactions. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), which is commonly used in the physical sciences, is now becoming a good correlative form of microscopy used to complement existing optical, confocal and electron microscopy for biological applications RESULTS: In this study, the West Nile (Sarafend) virus-infected Vero cell model was used. The atomic force microscope was found to be useful in producing high resolution images of virus-host events with minimal sample processing requirements. The AFM was able to image the budding of the West Nile (Sarafend) virus at the infected cell surface. Proliferation of the filopodia and thickening of clusters of actin filaments accompanied West Nile virus replication. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that the AFM is useful for virus-host interaction studies. The technique provides morphological information on both the virus and the host cell during the infection stages.