Globally visualizing the microtubule-dependent transport behaviors of influenza virus in live cells

Understanding the microtubule-dependent behaviors of viruses in live cells is very meaningful for revealing the mechanisms of virus infection and endocytosis. Herein, we used a quantum dots-based single-particle tracking technique to dynamically and globally visualize the microtubule-dependent transport behaviors of influenza virus in live cells. We found that the intersection configuration of microtubules can interfere with the transport behaviors of the virus in live cells, which lead to the changing and long-time pausing of the transport behavior of viruses. Our results revealed that most of the viruses moved along straight microtubules rapidly and unidirectionally from the cell periphery to the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) near the bottom of the cell, and the viruses were confined in the grid of microtubules near the top of the cell and at the MTOC near the bottom of the cell. These results provided deep insights into the influence of entire microtubule geometry on the virus infection.