Department of Biology

Program

Microbiology

Research Area

Virology

Education

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, 1996

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, 1996-1999

Postdoctoral Fellow, Purdue University, 1999-2005

Research Description

Alphavirus Structure and Assembly

My lab is focused on examining molecular interactions required for efficient assembly and release of infectious virus particles.  We work with alphaviruses which are enveloped, positive-strand RNA viruses that are transmitted to a variety of hosts by mosquitoes.  Their life cycle is comprised of receptor mediated host-cell infection, viral-host membrane fusion, genome replication, virus assembly and budding.  Efficient budding is fundamental for successful and continual virus infection.  Alphavirus virions are icosahedral and have an external diameter of ~700-Å.  Each particle consists of the viral genome, 240 copies of the capsid and spike proteins, and a host-derived lipid bilayer.  Our lab is interested in identifying how the genome, proteins, and lipids assemble to gether into an infectious particle.  We use a combination of genetic, biochemical, cell biological, and structural approches to study virus assembly. Specifically, we are interested in (1) identifying pro- and anti-viral factors in the host cell, (2) creating nanoparticles for both single-particle studies and virus-based biomedical applications, (3) regulation of protein folding for spike assembly, (4) role of the lipid membrane from different hosts in particle stability and infectivity, and (5) structures of assembly intermediates. For more information about each project, please visit our lab webpage.

Select Publications

Cheng, F., Tsvetkova, I. B., Khuong, Y., Moore, A., Arnold, R. J., Goicochea, N. L., Dragnea, B., and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2012) The packaging of different cargo into enveloped viral nanoparticles.  Molecular Pharmaceutics, in press.    [article]

Sokoloski, K. J., Hayes, C. A., Dunn, M. P., Balke, J. L., Hardy, R. W.*, and Mukhopadhyay, S.* (2012) Sindbis Virus Infectivity Improves During the Course of Infection in Both Mammalian and Mosquito Cells. Virus Research, 167(1):26-33.  [article]

Snyder, A. J., Sokoloski, K. J., and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2012) Mutating conserved cysteines in the alphavirus E2 glycoprotein causes virus-specific assembly defects. J. Virol. 86(6):3100-11.  [article]

Snyder, A. J. and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2012) The Alphavirus E3 protein functions in a clade-specific manner. Journal of Virology, in press.
 [article]

Zlotnick, A. and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2011) Assembly, allostery, and antivirals. Trends Microbiol. 19(1): 14-23.  [article]

Cheng, F. and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2011) Generating virus-like particles with in vitro assembled cores. Virology. 413(2): 153-60.  [article]

Parrott, M. M., Sitarski, S. A., Arnold, R. J., Picton, L.. K., Hill, R. B., and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2009) Role of Conserved Cysteines in the Alphavirus E3 Protein. J. Virol. 83(6): 2480-2490.  [article]

Goicochea, N. L, De, M., Rotello, V. M., Mukhopadhyay, S., and Dragnea, B. (2007) Core-like Particles of an Enveloped Animal Virus can Self-Assemble Efficiently on Artificial Templates. NanoLetters. 7(8):2281-90.  [article]

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