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Updated: Jul 24, 2025
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Dissecting Host-virus Interaction in Lytic Replication of a Model Herpesvirus
Published on: October 7, 2011
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How host ER membrane chaperones and morphogenic proteins support virus infection
Tai-Ting Woo1, Jeffrey M Williams1, Billy Tsai1
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, BSRB 3043, Ann Arbor, MI 48109,USA.
Journal of Cell Science
|July 4, 2023
Summary
Viruses hijack the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a key organelle for protein and lipid synthesis, to facilitate infection. Understanding this ER exploitation is crucial for developing new antiviral therapies.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Virology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a dynamic organelle essential for cellular functions like protein synthesis, folding, and lipid metabolism.
- Viruses exploit cellular machinery, including the ER, to replicate and spread.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how viruses utilize the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for their life cycle.
- To identify ER factors and membrane machineries hijacked by various viruses.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of recent studies on virus-ER interactions.
- Analysis of viral life cycles and their dependence on ER functions.
Main Results:
- Viruses hijack diverse ER functions, including protein synthesis, folding, Ca2+ homeostasis, and lipid biosynthesis.
- Specific ER membrane machineries are exploited by viruses like polyomavirus, flavivirus, and coronavirus for entry, replication, and egress.
Conclusions:
- Viral exploitation of the ER is a common strategy across diverse virus families.
- Elucidating these virus-ER interactions offers potential targets for novel antiviral drug development.
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