Distribution of ESCRT Machinery at HIV Assembly Sites Reveals Virus Scaffolding of ESCRT Subunits

Abstract

Viral ESCRT The ESCRT (Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport) protein complex plays a role in budding into multivesicular bodies, cytokinesis, and HIV budding, but the details of how the ESCRTs facilitate viral budding are unclear. Now, using high-resolution light and electron microscopical imaging techniques, Van Engelenburg et al. (p. 653 , published online 16 January) dissect the role for ESCRT proteins in HIV budding. The findings suggest that the ESCRT machinery required for the scission of HIV particles from infected cells is located within the core of the virus particle and not, as might have been expected based on previous work, on the cellular side of the membrane scission event involved in viral budding.