Insights into the function of ESCRT and its role in enveloped virus infection

Chunxuan Wang; Yu Chen; Shunlin Hu; Xiufan Liu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1261651

Insights into the function of ESCRT and its role in enveloped virus infection

Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 6:14:1261651. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1261651. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Chunxuan Wang¹, Yu Chen¹, Shunlin Hu¹, Xiufan Liu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Animal Infectious Disease Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
² Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonosis, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
³ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.

Abstract

The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) is an essential molecular machinery in eukaryotic cells that facilitates the invagination of endosomal membranes, leading to the formation of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). It participates in various cellular processes, including lipid bilayer remodeling, cytoplasmic separation, autophagy, membrane fission and re-modeling, plasma membrane repair, as well as the invasion, budding, and release of certain enveloped viruses. The ESCRT complex consists of five complexes, ESCRT-0 to ESCRT-III and VPS4, along with several accessory proteins. ESCRT-0 to ESCRT-II form soluble complexes that shuttle between the cytoplasm and membranes, mainly responsible for recruiting and transporting membrane proteins and viral particles, as well as recruiting ESCRT-III for membrane neck scission. ESCRT-III, a soluble monomer, directly participates in vesicle scission and release, while VPS4 hydrolyzes ATP to provide energy for ESCRT-III complex disassembly, enabling recycling. Studies have confirmed the hijacking of ESCRT complexes by enveloped viruses to facilitate their entry, replication, and budding. Recent research has focused on the interaction between various components of the ESCRT complex and different viruses. In this review, we discuss how different viruses hijack specific ESCRT regulatory proteins to impact the viral life cycle, aiming to explore commonalities in the interaction between viruses and the ESCRT system.

Keywords: ESCRT; MVBS; enveloped virus; viral budding; viral entry; viral replication.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (32202767), the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-40), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).