Seminar

Structure and Mechanism of the ESCRT Membrane Budding and Scission Machinery

James H. Hurley, PhD

What does the budding of HIV-1 and many other enveloped viruses have in common with cytokinesis and the downregulation of cell surface receptors?

 The structures of the ESCRT-0, -I and -II complexes have been determined in our lab, and their interactions with ubiquitinated cargo and membranes have been characterized. HIV-1 budding and cytokinesis require some, but not all, of the ESCRTs. The complete reconstitution of multivesicular body biogenesis, using all ESCRT complexes and a model cargo, has been carried out in the lab, explaining how cargo-containing buds are formed, what are the molecular-level roles of the ESCRT,-0, -I, and -II complexes, and how cargo-filled buds are formed and cleaved without consuming ESCRTs in the reaction.