Endocytosis of influenza viruses.

Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Zhuang X.

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street Naito Building, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Receptor-mediated endocytosis is known to play an important role in the entry of many viruses into host cells. However, the exact internalization mechanism has, until recently, remained poorly understood for many medically important viruses, including influenza. Developments in real-time imaging of single viruses as well as the use of dominant-negative mutants to selectively block specific endocytic pathways have improved our understanding of the influenza infection process.