cool stuff/biofilms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofilm (general summary)

viruses (virii?) and biofilms - really the only decent story (in nature this year)

Biofilm-like extracellular viral assemblies mediate HTLV-1 cell-to-cell transmission at virological synapses.

Nat Med. 2010 Jan;16(1):83-9. Epub 2009 Dec 20. Pais-Correia AM Sachse M Guadaqnini S Robbiati V Lasserre R Gessain A Gout O Alcover A Thoulouze MI.

Institut Pasteur, Unité de Biologie Cellulaire des Lymphocytes, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité de Recherche Associée 1961, Paris, France. Comment in:

• Nat Med. 2010 Jan;16(1):25-7.

Abstract

Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a lymphotropic retrovirus whose cell-to-cell transmission HTLV-1 requires transmission cell contacts. remains HTLV-1-infected poorly understood. T lymphocytes We show here form that 'virological HTLV-1-infected synapses', T lymphocytes but the mechanism transiently of store viral particles as carbohydrate-rich extracellular assemblies that are held together and attached to the cell surface by virally-induced extracellular matrix components, including collagen and agrin, and cellular linker proteins, such as tetherin and galectin-3. Extracellular viral assemblies rapidly adhere to other cells upon cell contact, allowing virus spread and infection of target cells. Their removal strongly reduces the ability of HTLV-1- producing cells to infect target cells. Our findings unveil a novel virus transmission mechanism based on the generation of extracellular viral particle assemblies whose structure, composition and function resemble those of bacterial biofilms. HTLV-1 biofilm-like structures represent a major route for virus transmission from cell to cell.