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[Flaviviridae and mitochondria: Everything you always wanted to know about their relationship but were afraid to ask]

Wesley Freppel1, Marie Roy1, Laurent Chatel-Chaix1

  • 1Centre Armand-Frappier santé biotechnologie, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Laval, Québec, Canada.

Virologie (Montrouge, France)
|November 11, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Flaviviridae viruses, like Zika and Hepatitis C, hijack mitochondria for replication. This review explores how these viruses alter mitochondria to promote infection and disease.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Cell Biology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Flaviviridae infections pose significant global health challenges due to limited treatments.
  • Emerging viruses like Zika cause severe congenital defects, and Hepatitis C leads to high mortality.
  • Flaviviridae viruses manipulate host cellular organelles, particularly mitochondria, for their replication.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the current understanding of the relationship between Flaviviridae and mitochondria.
  • To elucidate how viral interactions with mitochondria facilitate viral replication.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on Flaviviridae and mitochondrial interactions.
  • Analysis of molecular mechanisms by which viruses remodel cellular organelles.

Main Results:

  • Flaviviridae induce significant morphological changes in mitochondria.
  • Viruses co-opt key mitochondrial functions, including those in apoptosis, immunity, and metabolism.
  • Endoplasmic reticulum remodeling is also crucial for viral genome replication and virion assembly.

Conclusions:

  • Flaviviridae extensively interact with and alter mitochondrial structure and function.
  • These viral-induced mitochondrial changes create a cellular environment conducive to Flaviviridae replication.
Keywords:
apoptosisflavivirushepatitis C virusinnate immunitymitochondriamitochondria morphodynamics

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