Rerouting the traffic from a virus perspective

Viruses are important human and animal pathogens causing disease that affect global health and the economy. One outcome of many virus infections is the regulation of cellular trafficking machinery. Viral proteins recruit and interact with cellular trafficking proteins to divert the normal trafficking of key proteins or to induce the formation of novel membrane structures in the host cell. These alterations often increase replication efficiency by mislocalizing immune regulators or restriction factors of by creating platforms for replication and assembly of new virus particles. Our knowledge of how viruses interact with the cellular trafficking machinery is still limited and furthering this understanding will be important for the future development of prophylactic and therapeutic treatments. This review provides a glimpse of the types of interplay between viral and cellular factors that result in a disruption of cellular trafficking or modifications to cellular membranes.