Abstract
Influenza viruses can move across the surface of host cells while interacting with their glycocalyx. This motility may assist in finding or forming locations for cell entry and thereby promote cellular uptake. Because the binding to and cleavage of cell surface receptors forms the driving force for the process, the surface-bound motility of influenza is expected to be dependent on the receptor density. Surface gradients with gradually varying receptor densities are thus a valuable tool to study binding and motility processes of influenza and can function as a mimic for local receptor density variations at the glycocalyx that may steer the directionality of a virus particle in finding the proper site of uptake. We have tracked individual influenza virus particles moving over surfaces with receptor density gradients. We analyzed the extracted virus tracks first at a general level to verify neuraminidase activity and subsequently with increasing detail to quantify the receptor density-dependent behavior on the level of individual virus particles. While a directional bias was not observed, most likely due to limitations of the steepness of the surface gradient, the surface mobility and the probability of sticking were found to be significantly dependent on receptor density. A combination of high surface mobility and high dissociation probability of influenza was observed at low receptor densities, while the opposite occurred at higher receptor densities. These properties result in an effective mechanism for finding high-receptor density patches, which are believed to be a key feature of potential locations for cell entry.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 25066-25076 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | ACS applied materials & interfaces |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 20 |
Early online date | 11 May 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 24 May 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Wouter Vijselaar for the cleanroom fabrication of the gradient chips. This study was supported by the Volkswagen Foundation (FlapChips project to E.v.d.V. and J.H.), by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, TOP 715.015.001 to J.H., and TOP-PUNT 718.015.003 to G.-J.P.H.B.), and by the German Research Foundation (project IDs 364654521 (BL 1514/1) and 431232613 (SFB 1449) to S.B.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
Keywords
- influenza
- motility
- multivalency
- receptor density
- surface diffusion
- surface gradients