Fat tags the protein
To the surface it transits
Wrapped in the virus
Living cells are like microscopic cities. The proteins, which are the workhorses of a cell, must accurately navigate to the place where they will perform their assigned tasks. Sometimes we equate the way that proteins get to their final destination to adding an address to a letter.
When a virus infects a cell, its proteins must conform to the cell norm or rewire the system. It is of interest to understand how viruses approach this problem. In the case of a small accessory protein called TF that is found in the virions of Sindbis virus, adding lipids to the protein serves as its ‘address’ to get it to the location where new virions are released from an infected cell.
Original research: https://dx.doi.org/10.1128%2FJVI.02000-16
During graduate school, Jolene Ramsey studied the molecular mechanisms governing enveloped eukaryotic virus assembly. She has a long-term interest in understanding how viruses exploit host cells to build more virions. You can follow her on Twitter under the handle @jrrmicro
Enjoyed Jolene’s sciku? Check out her other sciku ‘Click click go!’, ‘Privateer, the phage’, ‘The Phriendly Phage’ and Saba, the morning breeze.