title: Assembly and budding of Ebolavirus.
abstract: Ebolavirus is responsible for highly lethal hemorrhagic fever. Like all viruses, it must reproduce its various components and assemble them in cells in order to reproduce infectious virions and perpetuate itself. To generate infectious Ebolavirus, a viral genome-protein complex called the nucleocapsid (NC) must be produced and transported to the cell surface, incorporated into virions, and then released from cells. To further our understanding of the Ebolavirus life cycle, we expressed the various viral proteins in mammalian cells and examined them ultrastructurally and biochemically. Expression of nucleoprotein alone led to the formation of helical tubes, which likely serve as a core for the NC. The matrix protein VP40 was found to be critical for transport of NCs to the cell surface and for the incorporation of NCs into virions, where interaction between nucleoprotein and the matrix protein VP40 is likely essential for these processes. Examination of virus-infected cells revealed that virions containing NCs mainly emerge horizontally from the cell surface, whereas empty virions mainly bud vertically, suggesting that horizontal budding is the major mode of Ebolavirus budding. These data form a foundation for the identification and development of potential antiviral agents to combat the devastating disease caused by this virus.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebihara
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muramoto
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Ayato
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sagara
authors.forename: Jin Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kida
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feldmann
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawaoka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008870:Microtubules / Q000648:ultrastructure / Q000821:virology; D019251:Nucleocapsid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014709:Vero Cells; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; C080981:VP40 protein, virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins