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HIV-1 viral cores enter the nucleus collectively through the nuclear endocytosis-like pathway

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Abstract

It is recognized that HIV-1 capsid cores are disassembled in the cytoplasm, releasing their genomes into the nucleus through nuclear pores, but there is also evidence showing the capsid (CA) exists in the nucleus. Whether HIV-1 enters the nucleus and how it enters the nucleus through the undersized nuclear pore remains mysterious. Based on multicolor labeling and real-time imaging of the viral and cellular components, our observations via light and electron microscopy suggest that HIV-1 selectively gathered at the microtubule organization center (MTOC), leading the nearby nuclear envelope (NE) to undergo deformation, invagination and restoration to form a nuclear vesicle in which the viral particles were wrapped; then, the inner membrane of the nuclear vesicle ruptured to release HIV-1 into the nucleus. This unexpected discovery expands our understanding of the complexity of HIV-1 nuclear entry, which may provide new insights to HIV-1 virology.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Center for Biological Imaging (CBI), IBP-CAS, particularly Shuoguo Li, Yun Feng and Can Peng, for technical support with the SIM and TEM work. This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB29050100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xia Li & Yikai Zhou

  2. National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xia Li, Dianbing Wang, Min Li & Xian-En Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Zongqiang Cui, Qin Li & Qinxue Hu

  4. CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Yingxin Ma

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xian-En Zhang

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  1. Xia Li
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  2. Dianbing Wang
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  5. Min Li
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Correspondence to Yikai Zhou or Xian-En Zhang.

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Li, X., Wang, D., Cui, Z. et al. HIV-1 viral cores enter the nucleus collectively through the nuclear endocytosis-like pathway. Sci. China Life Sci. 64, 66–76 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1716-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1716-x

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