Monitoring the progression of the infection cycle
Mimivirus infection involves morphological changes in Mimivirus-infected cells. We are using super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, combined with a high throughput ImageStream approach in order to study the structural rearrangements of the amoebae cytoskeleton during Mimivirus infection.
Genome Packaging into Mimivirus
In order to package its huge 1.2Mbp genome into 1,000 new virions per infected cell, Mimivirus must utilize a very efficient DNA-packaging mechanism. We study putative DNA-motors, the Mimivirus-encoded TopoisomeraseII and other relevant proteins by fluorescence and electron microscopy, as well as biochemical analysis of the protein.