cells Review How Influenza Virus Uses Host Cell Pathways during Uncoating Etori Aguiar Moreira 1 , Yohei Yamauchi 2 and Patrick Matthias 1,3,* 1 Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, 4058 Basel, Switzerland;
[email protected] 2 Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK;
[email protected] 3 Faculty of Sciences, University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Influenza is a zoonotic respiratory disease of major public health interest due to its pan- demic potential, and a threat to animals and the human population. The influenza A virus genome consists of eight single-stranded RNA segments sequestered within a protein capsid and a lipid bilayer envelope. During host cell entry, cellular cues contribute to viral conformational changes that promote critical events such as fusion with late endosomes, capsid uncoating and viral genome release into the cytosol. In this focused review, we concisely describe the virus infection cycle and highlight the recent findings of host cell pathways and cytosolic proteins that assist influenza uncoating during host cell entry. Keywords: influenza; capsid uncoating; HDAC6; ubiquitin; EPS8; TNPO1; pandemic; M1; virus– host interaction Citation: Moreira, E.A.; Yamauchi, Y.; Matthias, P. How Influenza Virus Uses Host Cell Pathways during 1. Introduction Uncoating. Cells 2021, 10, 1722. Viruses are microscopic parasites that, unable to self-replicate, subvert a host cell https://doi.org/10.3390/ for their replication and propagation. Despite their apparent simplicity, they can cause cells10071722 severe diseases and even pose pandemic threats [1–3].