A tail of Tetherin: how pandemic HIV-1 conquered the world

Abstract

The study of successful versus failed zoonotic infections may provide important clues of how viral infection is naturally prevented. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, a collaborative group led by Frank Kirchhoff uncovers an important piece of the pandemic HIV-1 puzzle.

Figure 1. Models for Tetherin's Antiretroviral Tethering Activity

Tetherin restricts retroviral release by tethering newly formed virions to the cell surface. The protease-sensitive tether probably consists solely of dimeric tetherin protein. Shown are models for the various tetherin protein configurations. Currently, Perez-Caballero et al. (2009) and Fitzpatrick et al. (2009) favor different models, but we expect that it will be difficult to rule out the existence of more than one of these examples. The figure is reprinted from Perez-Caballero et al. (2009).