Virus trafficking – learning from single-virus tracking

Abstract

Single-virus tracking in live cells allows researchers to follow the fate of individual virus particles, to probe dynamic interactions between viruses and the cellular machinery, and to dissect the infection process into fundamental steps so that the molecular mechanisms underlying each step can be determined. Tracking individual virus particles in live cells has shed light on virus–cell interactions that are important for viral entry, and on fundamental cellular mechanisms and pathways. Viral transport mechanisms, such as diffusive movement and directed movement by motor proteins on cytoskeleton tracks, have been probed using single-virus tracking. By monitoring the assembly of individual virions using single-virus imaging, the kinetics of viral assembly and the exit mechanisms of viruses have been revealed.