Modeling ebolavirus budding with virus like particles

Abstract

About 15 years ago, several groups initially described the release of virus like particles (VLPs) upon expression of Ebola virus VP40 in mammalian cells. Further development of the protocol later allowed for the dissection of the Ebola virus budding mechanism and for the identification of critical VP40 residues involved in this process. VLPs are now produced routinely in several laboratories as a tool to study virus entry or egress and have even been proposed as vaccine candidates against Ebola virus disease. Here we described protocols for the production and the analysis of Ebola virus VLP release.