Old World Arenaviruses are a family of rodent-carried zoonotic viruses, exemplified by Lassa virus that infects many people in West Africa each year, causing severe viral hemorrhagic fevers. A type 1 trimeric glycoprotein on the viral membrane mediates attachment to the host receptors and facilitates membrane fusion and infection. Only limited structural information is currently available for glycoproteins from Old World Arenaviruses. In our lab we study those proteins and the way they facilitate host recognition and infection. I will present in my talk recent structural data and some mechanistic insights about this process.
