Interaction of single viruslike particles with vesicles containing glycosphingolipids

Glycosphingolipids are involved in the first steps of virus-cell interaction, where they mediate specific recognition of the host cell membrane. We have employed total-internal-reflection fluorescence microscopy to explore the interaction kinetics between individual unlabeled noroviruslike particles, which are attached to a glycosphingolipid-containing lipid bilayer, and fluorescent vesicles containing different types and concentrations of glycosphingolipids. Under association equilibrium, the vesicle-binding rate is found to be kinetically limited, yielding information on the corresponding activation energy. The dissociation kinetics are logarithmic over a wide range of time. The latter is explained by the vesicle-size-related distribution of the dissociation activation energy. The biological, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic relevance of the study is briefly discussed.