Understanding viral replication and spread for a longest time depended on bulk analysis of infected cells and mostly used transformed cell lines in tissue culture. Advances in imaging methods and labeling tools more recently allowed studying individual infection events and specific stages of the infection cycle. This includes analysis of trafficking and morphological changes of individual viral components at high spatial and/or temporal resolution also using primary target cells. In parallel, advances in (cryo) electron microscopy and tomography not only allowed visualizing structural components of the extracellular virion at near atomic resolution but also yielded structural information on viral components inside infected cells and on their interaction with host cell components. On the other hand, development of organoid systems and other 3D culture systems in combination with light sheet microscopy and other methods allowing analysis of virus infection in complex 3D cultures yielded important new insights on viral infections more similar to the real in vivo situation; certain aspects of viral replication and spread could even be studied in living animals, applying 2-photon-microscopy. This overview will summarize and discuss recent advances achieved by improved imaging technologies with a major focus on HIV-1, but also addressing aspects important for other viruses.
CROI Conference
