Precise triggering and chemical control of single-virus fusion within endosomes

Many enveloped viruses infect cells within endocytic compartments. The drop in pH that accompanies endosomal maturation, often in conjunction with proteolytic factors, serves as a trigger for viral fusion proteins to insert into the endosomal membrane and drive fusion. The dynamics of this process has been studied by tracking viruses within living cells, which limits the precision with which fusion can be synchronized and controlled, and by reconstituting viral fusion to synthetic membranes, which introduces non-physiological membrane curvature and composition. To overcome these limitations, we have engineered the chemically controllable triggering of single-virus fusion within endosomes. We isolate influenza virus:endosome conjugates from cells prior to fusion, immobilize them in a microfluidic flow cell, and then rapidly and controllably trigger fusion. This platform demonstrates lipid-mixing kinetics that are grossly similar to influenza fusion with model membranes but display some subtle differences. Because it preserves endosomal membrane asymmetry and protein composition, it also provides a means to test how perturbations to endosomal trafficking and cellular restriction factors affect viral membrane fusion.