Viral envelope fusion with the host plasma membrane(PM)for genome release is a hallmark step in the life cycle of many enveloped viruses.This process is regulated by a complex network of biomolecules on the PM,but rob...Viral envelope fusion with the host plasma membrane(PM)for genome release is a hallmark step in the life cycle of many enveloped viruses.This process is regulated by a complex network of biomolecules on the PM,but robust tools to precisely elucidate the dynamic mechanisms of virus-PM fusion events are still lacking.Here,we developed a quantitative single-virus tracking approach based on highly efficient dual-color labelling of viruses and batch trajectory analysis to achieve the spatiotemporal quantification of fusion events.This approach allows us to comprehensively analyze the membrane fusion mechanism utilized by pseudotyped severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)at the singlevirus level and precisely elucidate how the relevant biomolecules synergistically regulate the fusion process.Our results revealed that SARS-CoV-2 may promote the formation of supersaturated clusters of cholesterol to facilitate the initiation of the membrane fusion process and accelerate the viral genome release.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22293032,22293030,and 91859123)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2019YFA0210500)+1 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(63211023)the financial support from Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations.
文摘Viral envelope fusion with the host plasma membrane(PM)for genome release is a hallmark step in the life cycle of many enveloped viruses.This process is regulated by a complex network of biomolecules on the PM,but robust tools to precisely elucidate the dynamic mechanisms of virus-PM fusion events are still lacking.Here,we developed a quantitative single-virus tracking approach based on highly efficient dual-color labelling of viruses and batch trajectory analysis to achieve the spatiotemporal quantification of fusion events.This approach allows us to comprehensively analyze the membrane fusion mechanism utilized by pseudotyped severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)at the singlevirus level and precisely elucidate how the relevant biomolecules synergistically regulate the fusion process.Our results revealed that SARS-CoV-2 may promote the formation of supersaturated clusters of cholesterol to facilitate the initiation of the membrane fusion process and accelerate the viral genome release.