# Mechanisms in Polyomavirus Assembly

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2022 · $378,213

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
An emerging concept in virology is that viral replication and virion assembly are often mechanistically
coupled in specific locations within the cell at sites termed virus “factories”. The spatial and temporal
coordination of these processes permit assembly line production of virions in a manner that is
energetically favorable while allowing for quality control of the final structure. Although factories have
been described in some detail for viruses replicating in the cytoplasm, most DNA viruses
replicate/assemble in the nucleus where morphological features of factories are problematic to identify
and characterize due to the dense chromatin network. There are also indications that the factories
usurp essential nuclear domains otherwise used for such functions as DNA damage repair (DDR),
and indeed many cellular proteins involved in DDR are found at replication sites for DNA viruses. We
propose to characterize the structure and composition of virion assembly factories for the well-studied
murine polyomavirus using a combined approach employing iPOND protein identification, high
resolution imaging, and virus/host cell genetics. Our goal is to determine the molecular architecture of
these factories at nanometer resolution as well as the spatial and functional relationships of their
protein components. With the recent identification of ten new human polyomaviruses, and the marked
increase in immunomodulatory therapies for a variety of diseases, polyomaviruses have emerged as
important human pathogens that at present have no specific therapy. Characterization of the
assembly factories not only will identify new therapeutic targets for affecting polyomavirus replication,
as well as other DNA viruses, but also provide insight as to their function in normal cellular processes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10312761
- **Project number:** 5R01AI151636-37
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert L Garcea
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $378,213
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1984-07-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10312761

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10312761, Mechanisms in Polyomavirus Assembly (5R01AI151636-37). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10312761. Licensed CC0.

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