Enveloped viruses must bind to a receptor on the host cell membrane to initiate infection. Membrane fusion is subsequently driven by a conformational change in the viral fusion protein. We have developed a method to disentangle the two processes of receptor binding and fusion using synthetic DNA-lipid conjugates to bind enveloped viruses to target membranes <i>in the absence</i> of receptor. We demonstrate this method by binding single influenza virus to target vesicles and measuring the rates of individual fusion events using fluorescence microscopy. Influenza fusion kinetics are found to be independent of receptor binding. This approach can be used to study viruses where challenging receptor reconstitution has previously limited single-virus fusion experiments (e.g., HIV, Ebola and Zika).

Model system for separating viral membrane binding and fusion

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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