Présentation
A collaboration with the electron microscopy expert Cristina Risco (CSIC, Madrid) led us to propose a model in which the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays an essential role in the trafficking of newly synthesized viral genomic RNAs, in the form of ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs), across the cytoplasm: the ER serves as a platform for the formation of vRNP transport vesicles, a new type of organelle which we named ICV, for irregularly coated vesicles (de Castro Martin et al, Nat Commun 2017). We now aim at further characterising the biogenesis and structure of these vesicles, in the frame of a Human Frontier Science Program, in collaboration with biophysicists (Ibrahim Cisse, MIT, USA) and electron microscopists (Juan Fontana, University of Leeds, UK). We are also investigating the rules governing the assembly/reassortment of 8 distinct genomic vRNPs during their transport towards the plasma membrane, in the frame of the ANR-funded project µFLu-Reassort, in collaboration with A. Griffiths (ESPCI, Paris, France).
