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Mechanisms of African Swine Fever virus factory formation

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001041
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Haru - Hisa Takamatsu
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	846,136
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2003
End date	30/06/2009
Duration	75 months

Abstract

ASFV is a very large enveloped DNA virus that replicates in the cytoplasm of cells. The virus encodes between 150 and 200 proteins, and 50 of these can be incorporated into virions. The assembly of ASFV takes place in specialised cytoplasmic structures called virus factories. Interestingly, we have show that ASFV factories are very similar to aggresomes. Aggresomes are organelles that use microtubules to concentrate misfolded or incorrectly assembled proteins within cytoplasmic inclusions located next to the microtubule organising centre. It is possible that the aggresome pathway is exploited by ASFV to concentrate structural proteins at sites of virus assembly. One of the most striking features shared by virus factories and aggresomes is the rearrangement of the intermediate filament protein, vimentin into cages surrounding the sequestered proteins. Rearrangement of vimentin filaments in cells normally involves phosphorylation of the protein on critical serine residues and transport of filament precursors to new cellular sites by microtubules. We are currently investigating whether these processes are required for the formation of vimentin cages in cells infected with ASFV. We have also shown that African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) receives two envelopes by being wrapped by membrane cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and we are investigating how membrane proteins encoded by ASFV recruit the ER into virus factories.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biochemistry & Cell Biology (BCB)
Research Topics	Animal Health, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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