Association with M1 at cell membrane

As influenza viruses bud from the plasma membrane of infected cells, complete virions are not seen inside cells. In polarized epithelial cells, assembly and budding of influenza occurs from the apical plasma membrane (Schmitt, 2004). For efficient assembly, all virion components must accumulate at the budding site, and it is believed that the viral glycoprotein accumulation determines the site of virus assembly and budding (Nayak, 2004). M1 is thought to be the bridge between the envelope glycoproteins and the RNPs for assembly (Schmitt, 2004). M2 is also required, because if it is not present RNPs are not packaged into budding virions (McCown, 2005), however it role is not known.

流感病毒从感染细胞的质膜中芽生时，完整的病毒颗粒在细胞内并不可见。在极化上皮细胞中，流感病毒的组装和芽生过程发生在顶端质膜（Schmitt, 2004）。为了实现高效的组装，所有病毒颗粒的组分必须积累在芽生位点，据信病毒糖蛋白的积累决定了病毒组装和芽生的位置（Nayak, 2004）。M1 被认为是在包膜糖蛋白与核糖核蛋白（RNPs）之间组装的桥梁（Schmitt, 2004）。M2 也是必需的，因为如果没有其存在，RNPs 便不会被包装进入芽生病毒颗粒中（McCown, 2005），然而其具体作用尚不明确。