After Hrs with HIV

Abstract

To efficiently bud off from infected cells, HIV and other enveloped viruses hijack the host cellular machinery that is normally involved in vacuolar protein sorting and multivesicular body (MVB) biogenesis. The HIV Gag protein mimics hepatocyte growth factor–regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (Hrs), a modular adaptor protein that links membrane cargo recognition to its degradation after delivery to MVBs. In contrast to T cells, where HIV budding occurs at the plasma membrane, virus buds into vacuoles of macrophages, a process that may facilitate its spread within the infected host.