# FUSION OF VIRUS ENVELOPE WITH CELL MEMBRANES

> **NIH NIH R01** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY · 1987 · $121,262

## Abstract

The membrane interactions of the proteins of enveloped viruses will be
investigated.  These studies concentrate on 3 viruses that have structural
features in common:  influenza virus, Sendai virus (a parainfluenza virus),
and vesicular stomatitis virus (a rhabdovirus).  Of particular interest are
the interactions occurring on the cytoplasmic surface of the host plasma
membrane.  There are three primary areas of investigation.  The first area
is the membrane interactions involved in virus maturation, which occurs by
budding from the host plasma membrane.  Immunofluorescence and
immunoelectron microscopy will be used to visualize the association of
internal viral components with the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma
membrane.  Temperature sensitive virus mutants will be used to study the
timing and sequence of association of internal viral components with the
membrane following a shift from the non-permissive to the permissive
temperature.  The second area of investigation is the fate of internal
viral components following virus penetration into host cells, which occurs
by fusion of the virus envelope with cellular membranes.  The influence of
viral membrane proteins on the initial biosynthetic events in virus
replication (synthesis of viral mRNA) will be investigated.  Finally, the
structural interactions of isolated viral components reconstituted into
model structures such as liposomes will be investigated.  These studies
will use biophysical techniques such as resonance energy transfer between
fluorescent-labeled proteins and lipids.  These projects should provide
basic biochemical and structural information about virus assembly and
dissembly (following penetration).  The results should be relevant to the
replication of a wide variety of enveloped viruses in addition to the
individual ones being studied.  In addition, viral proteins serve as models
for host proteins that perform similar functions, so that our studies may
provide a more general model for the interaction of ribonucleoproteins with
membranes, and the interaction of integral and peripheral membrane proteins
with each other.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3126472
- **Project number:** 5R01AI015892-09
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** MBU6HCLNZ431
- **Principal Investigator:** DOUGLAS S. LYLES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1987
- **Award amount:** $121,262
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1979-05-01 → 1991-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3126472

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3126472, FUSION OF VIRUS ENVELOPE WITH CELL MEMBRANES (5R01AI015892-09). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3126472. Licensed CC0.

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