EFTA02410152.pdf

To: • • [[email protected]] From: Sent: Thur 7/8/2010 4:58:29 PM Subject: cool stuff/biofilms http://en.wikipedia.oro/wiki/Biofilm (general summary) viruses (virii?) and biofilms - really the only decent story (in nature this year) Biofilm-like extracellular viral assemblies mediate HTLV-1 cell-to-cell transmission at virological synapses. Nat Med. 2010 Jan;16(1):83-9. Epub 2009 Dec 20. Pais-Correia AM Sachse M Guadaqnini S Robbiati V Lasserre R Gessain A Gout O Alcover A Thoulouze MI. Institut Pasteur, Unité de Biologie Cellulaire des Lymphocytes, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité de Recherche Associée 1961, Paris, France. Comment in: • Nat Med. 2010 Jan;16(1):25-7. Abstract Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a lymphotropic retrovirus whose cell-to-cell transmission requires cell contacts. HTLV-1-infected T lymphocytes form 'virological synapses', but the mechanism of HTLV- 1 transmission remains poorly understood. We show here that HTLV-1-infected T lymphocytes transiently store viral particles as carbohydrate-rich extracellular assemblies that are held together and attached to the cell surface by virally-induced extracellular matrix components, including collagen and agrin, and cellular linker proteins, such as tetherin and galectin-3. Extracellular viral assemblies rapidly adhere to other cells upon cell contact, allowing virus spread and infection of target cells. Their removal strongly reduces the ability of HTLV-1- producing cells to infect target cells. Our findings unveil a novel virus transmission mechanism based on the generation of extracellular viral particle assemblies whose structure, composition and function resemble those of bacterial biofilms. HTLV-1 biofilm-like structures represent a major route for virus transmission from cell to cell. EFTA_R1_01470728 EFTA02410152