Anatomy of a viral entry platform differentially functionalized by integrins α3 and α6

During cell invasion, human papillomaviruses use large CD151 patches on the cell surface. Here, we studied whether these patches are defined architectures with features for virus binding and/or internalization. Super-resolution microscopy reveals that the patches are assemblies of closely associated nanoclusters of CD151, integrin α3 and integrin α6. Integrin α6 is required for virus attachment and integrin α3 for endocytosis. We propose that CD151 organizes viral entry platforms with different types of integrin clusters for different functionalities. Since numerous viruses use tetraspanin patches, we speculate that this building principle is a blueprint for cell-surface architectures utilized by viral particles.