Yves Gaudin Studying the morphogenesis and organization of Negri bodies formed by the rabies virus

Morphogenesis, structure and functions of liquid factories formed by rabies virus

"Rabies has not gone away. On the contrary, it kills 50,000 people per year worldwide and no treatment is possible once the disease occurs. The only protection is vaccination. Inside the cell, the virus uses energy and cellular machinery to produce new virus particles. The infected cell’s cytoplasm contains 0.5 to 3µm-diameter inclusions called Negri bodies. I study the morphogenesis, organization, function and dynamics of these structures.”The team uses various microscopy approaches to observe the fine, sub-micrometric organization of Negri bodies, a new class of membrane-free liquid organelles. They are formed by liquid phase separation and behave in the cell cytoplasm somewhat like oil drops that cannot be mixed with water. They are very dynamic structures that quickly assemble and disassemble depending on the environment. The goal is to understand the phase separation’s molecular basis, the Negri bodies’ makeup, the mechanisms allowing the virus to leave the factory once assembled and the subtle interactions between these factories and the cell’s antiviral defense mechanisms.

The foundation’s support

The Bettencourt Prize to Boost French Research allows Yves Gaudin to acquire a rotating disc confocal microscope for his laboratory in the Gif-Imaging platform in the new I2BC building, which was completed in late 2019.