ONLINE - PhD Mid-term Seminar Series: Humidity induces water nanolayers on emulated influenza surfaces: An AFM study

CIC nanoGUNE Seminars

Speaker

Maiara Iriarte, Self-assembly Group

When

2020/06/29
13:00

Place

nanoGUNE online Webinar

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** Humidity induces water nanolayers on emulated influenza surfaces: An AFM study ** **** Maiara Iriarte _Self-assembly Group, CIC nanoGUNE_ Seasonal epidemics of Influenza A virus cause annually 3 to 5 million cases of severe flu illness and up to 650000 flu-related deaths, worldwide. These seasonal outbreaks have been related to the environmental conditions, specifically the relative humidity or temperature. Similar to SARS-CoV, both survival and transmission of Influenza A virus are supported by cold and dry climate conditions. While studies in ferrets and in guinea pigs have demonstrated that cold temperatures and low relative humidity favour virus survival and transmission, epidemiological evidence suggests that humidity affects the virus transmission by modulating its survival. In contrast, there is very limited research on the surface physics of the virus and, specifically, on the surface glycoproteins. Studying how humidity affects the Influenza A virus envelope structure is not only important to understand its stability and survival outside the host cells, but also to design strategies to interfere with transmission. In this project, we have proposed to study the effect of humidity on the Influenza A virus surface by atomic force microscopy (AFM) by two model systems: (i) Mannosyl-gold nanoparticles (Mann-Au NPs) as they can be produced in similar size and glycan surface composition as the virus glycoproteins. (ii) Model membranes, built from supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) and incorporated surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA). Our findings on the model systems developed suggest that the Mann-Au NPs (i) present a strong hydration ability, while results on the model membranes (ii) indicate that HA protects the membrane damage after dehydration. These results will contribute to understanding the (bio)physics of the virus surface in humid air and to help to better control its transmission during seasonal outbreaks. **References** 1\. Petrova VN & Russell CA (2018) The evolution of seasonal influenza viruses. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 16, 47–60 2\. Otter JA, Donskey C, Yezli S, Douthwaite S, Goldenberg SD & Weber DJ (2016) Transmission of SARS and MERS coronaviruses and influenza virus in healthcare settings: the possible role of dry surface contamination. J. Hosp. Infect. 92, 235-250 3\. Vejerano EP & Marr LC (2018) Physico-chemical characteristics of evaporating respiratory fluid droplets. J. R. Soc. Interface 15, doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0939 4\. Chiantia S, Kahya N & Schwille P (2005) Dehydration Damage of Domain- Exhibiting Supported Bilayers: An AFM Study on the Protective Effects of Disaccharides and Other Stabilizing Substances. Langmuir 21, 6317-6323 5\. Barinov N, Ivanov N, Kopylov A, Klinov D, Zavyalova E (2018) Direct visualization of the oligomeric state of hemagglutinins of influenza virus by high-resolution atomic force microscopy. Biochimie 146, 148-155 \---------- Please **REGISTER** for PhD Mid-term Seminar Series on Jun 29, 2020 11:00 AM CEST at: [https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1415037787868604427](https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1415037787868604427) After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Thank you very much for your participation!