Lateral sorting of proteins into lipid-rafts and protein-protein interactions as prerequisite for assembly of influenza virus: A complementary biophysical approach on model membranes and living cells

Assembly and budding of enveloped viruses requires local enrichment of viral components at the budding site of the host membranes. Two non-excluding mechanisms can account for this: inclusion of membrane proteins into and association of other viral components with subdomains of the plasma membrane (lipid-rafts), and specific interactions between viral proteins. In this project we will address partitioning of proteins into rafts and interactions between viral proteins using essentially biophysical approaches. We will analyze the well-charaterized influenza virus membrane proteins hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and the matrix-protein (M1).