Influenza A Virus Lures Autophagic Protein LC3 to Budding Sites

Autophagy, a cellular degradation pathway, can restrict or assist viral replication. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Beale et al. (2014) report that the influenza virus matrix protein 2 binds to the essential autophagy protein LC3 to presumably transport LC3-conjugated membranes to the cell surface for budding of stable viruses.