IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms4508.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Direct visualization of HIV-enhancing endogenous amyloid fibrils in human semen

Author

Listed:
  • Shariq M. Usmani

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center)

  • Onofrio Zirafi

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center)

  • Janis A. Müller

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center)

  • Nathallie L. Sandi-Monroy

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center
    Kinderwunsch-Zentrum Ulm)

  • Jay K. Yadav

    (Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Ulm University)

  • Christoph Meier

    (Institute of Organic Chemistry III/Macromolecular Chemistry, Ulm University)

  • Tanja Weil

    (Institute of Organic Chemistry III/Macromolecular Chemistry, Ulm University)

  • Nadia R. Roan

    (University of California
    Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California at San Francisco)

  • Warner C. Greene

    (Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California at San Francisco
    University of California)

  • Paul Walther

    (Central Electron Microscopy Facility, Ulm University)

  • K. Peter R. Nilsson

    (Linköping University)

  • Per Hammarström

    (Linköping University)

  • Ronald Wetzel

    (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)

  • Christopher D. Pilcher

    (San Francisco General Hospital, University of California)

  • Friedrich Gagsteiger

    (Kinderwunsch-Zentrum Ulm)

  • Marcus Fändrich

    (Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Ulm University)

  • Frank Kirchhoff

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center)

  • Jan Münch

    (Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center)

Abstract

Naturally occurring fragments of the abundant semen proteins prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) and semenogelins form amyloid fibrils in vitro. These fibrils boost HIV infection and may play a key role in the spread of the AIDS pandemic. However, the presence of amyloid fibrils in semen remained to be demonstrated. Here, we use state of the art confocal and electron microscopy techniques for direct imaging of amyloid fibrils in human ejaculates. We detect amyloid aggregates in all semen samples and find that they partially consist of PAP fragments, interact with HIV particles and increase viral infectivity. Our results establish semen as a body fluid that naturally contains amyloid fibrils that are exploited by HIV to promote its sexual transmission.

Suggested Citation

  • Shariq M. Usmani & Onofrio Zirafi & Janis A. Müller & Nathallie L. Sandi-Monroy & Jay K. Yadav & Christoph Meier & Tanja Weil & Nadia R. Roan & Warner C. Greene & Paul Walther & K. Peter R. Nilsson & , 2014. "Direct visualization of HIV-enhancing endogenous amyloid fibrils in human semen," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4508
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4508
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms4508?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kübra Kaygisiz & Lena Rauch-Wirth & Arghya Dutta & Xiaoqing Yu & Yuki Nagata & Tristan Bereau & Jan Münch & Christopher V. Synatschke & Tanja Weil, 2023. "Data-mining unveils structure–property–activity correlation of viral infectivity enhancing self-assembling peptides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4508. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.