Bremaud, E. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2022

HIV-1 diverts actin debranching mechanismsfor particle assembly and release in CD4 Tlymphocytes.

Enveloped viruses assemble and bud from the host cell membranes. Possible roles of cortical actin in these processes have often been a source of controversy. Here, we assessed the involvement of the Arp2/3 mediated branched actin in HIV-1 assembly at the membrane of infected CD4 T lymphocytes. Our results show that actin debranching not only increases HIV-1 release but also the number of individual HIV-1 assembly clusters present at the cell plasma membrane unravelling new mechanisms. Indeed, we showed that, in infected T lymphocytes, HIV-1 Gag prefers areas deficient in F-actin for assembly. In vitro, we could reproduce and quantify this mechanism using model systems. Finally, we found that the actin debranching factor, Arpin, an Arp2/3 inhibitor, is recruited by Gag at the cell membrane to promote virus assembly. Altogether, our data show that HIV-1 favors local actin debranching for assembly and release by subverting the host factor Arpin.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2022

Quantification of membrane binding and diffusion using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy diffusion laws

Many transient processes in cells arise from the binding of cytosolic proteins to membranes. Quantifying this membrane binding and its associated diffusion in the living cell is therefore of primary importance. Dynamic photonic microscopies, e.g. single/multiple particle tracking, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) enable noninvasive measurement of molecular mobility in living cells and their plasma membranes. However, FCS with a single beam waist is of limited applicability with complex, non Brownian, motions. Recently, the development of FCS diffusion laws methods has given access to the characterization of these complex motions, although none of them is applicable to the membrane binding case at the moment. In this study, we combined computer simulations and FCS experiments to propose an FCS diffusion law for membrane binding. First, we generated computer simulations of spot-variation FCS (svFCS) measurements for a membrane binding process combined to 2D and 3D diffusion at the membrane and in the bulk/cytosol, respectively. Then, using these simulations as a learning set, we derived an empirical diffusion law with three free parameters: the apparent binding constant KDapp, the diffusion coefficient on the membrane D2D and the diffusion coefficient in the bulk/cytosol, D3D. Finally, we monitored, using svFCS, the dynamics of retroviral Gag proteins and associated mutants during their binding to supported lipid bilayers of different lipid composition or at plasma membranes of living cells and we quantified KDapp and D2D in these conditions using our empirical diffusion law. Based on these experiments and numerical simulations, we conclude that this new approach enables correct estimation of membrane partitioning and membrane diffusion properties (KDapp and D2D) for peripheral membrane molecules.

biophysics↗