Nipah virus matrix protein uses cortical actin to stabilize the virus assembly sites and promote budding
- Jingjing Wang
- Vicky Kliemke
- Mengyu Zhang
- Jinxin Liu
- Giuliana Leonarda Matta
- Qian Wang
- Yuhang Luo
- GuanQun Liu
- Qian Liu
2025-09-19
Several enveloped viruses, including paramyxoviruses, assemble and bud from the host plasma membrane (PM). Nipah virus (NiV), a deadly zoonotic paramyxovirus, uses its matrix protein (M) to drive virus assembly and budding through dimerization and PM interaction. We show that NiV-M–mediated virus-like particle (VLP) production depends on its interaction with host F-actin via its carboxyl-terminal domain. We demonstrate that F-actin retains NiV-M assembly sites at the PM by analyzing NiV-M assembly kinetics. Disrupting actin dynamics or NiV-M–actin interaction alters M nanoscale organization and reduces membrane retention, without affecting initial recruitment. We also show that the Arp2/3 complex, an actin-branching factor, promotes VLP production. Inhibiting Arp2/3 reduces NiV-M retention at the PM and impairs protrusion formation while leaving the assembly rate unchanged. These findings suggest that the host F-actin retains NiV assembly sites on the PM and promotes virus budding via Arp2/3-driven actin branching.