Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1982;1(2):217-22.
doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01150.x.

Membrane fusion activity of influenza virus

J White, J Kartenbeck, A Helenius

Membrane fusion activity of influenza virus

J White et al. EMBO J. 1982.

Abstract

A simple assay is described to monitor fusion between fowl plague virus (FPV, an avian influenza A virus) and liposomes which allows the simultaneous quantitation of both lytic and non-lytic fusion events. As in fusion between viruses and the plasma membrane and in FPV-induced cell-cell fusion, the reaction only occurs at pH 5.5 or below, and it is fast, highly efficient, and essentially non-lytic when fresh virus and liposomes are used. The fusion occurs over a broad temperature range, and has no requirement for divalent cations. The fusion factor of influenza virus is a hemagglutinin (HA) spike which protrudes from the virus membrane and which is also responsible for virus binding to the host cell. The finding that fusion occurs as efficiently with liposomes containing or lacking virus receptor structures, further emphasizes the remarkable division of labor in the HA molecule: the receptor-binding sites are located in the globular HA1 domains and the fusion activation peptide is found at the N-terminal of HA2 in the stem region of the protein. The mechanism of fusion is discussed in terms of the three-dimensional structure of the HA and the conformational change which the protein undergoes at the fusion pH optimum.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Gen Virol. 1979 Jun;43(3):593-601 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1975 Dec;68(2):426-39 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1981 Mar;109(2):452-4 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 1980 Sep 25;287(5780):301-6 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1981 Apr 30;110(2):479-82 - PubMed

Publication types