Lipid rafts and pseudotyping

Specific interactions between envelope and core proteins govern the membran e assembly of most enveloped viruses. Despite this, mixed infections lead t o pseudotyping, the association of the viral cores of one virus with the en velopes of another. How does this occur? We show here that the detergent-in soluble lipid rafts of the plasma membrane function as a natural meeting po int for the transmembrane and core components of a phylogenetically diverse collection of enveloped viruses. As a result, viral particles preferential ly incorporate both the envelope components of other viruses as well as the extra- and intracellular constituents of host cell Lipid rafts, including gangliosides, glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-anchored surface proteins, and intracellular signal transduction molecules. Pharmacological disruption of lipid rafts interferes with virus production.