This current research shows that cells require ubiquitin for budding to take place. The possibility of interrupting the budding process marks the significance of this recently published research. Each paper presents a slightly different view of these connections. Wills believes that RSV, HIV and other enveloped retroviruses such as Ebola and rabies, use ubiquitin in similar manners. If these viruses use a common mechanism for virus budding, this raises the possibility of developing a single antiviral drug for a wide spectrum of viral diseases.
Wills points out that the mechanistic details of ubiquitin's role in budding needs to be determined.
Our data and those of the accompanying papers suggest that the protein ubiquitin can modify Gag in a manner necessary for retrovirus budding. Gag proteins alone are not capable of triggering virus-cell separation. Viral buds, which emerge on the cell's surface, are released by the late or L domain segment of Gag, a portion that develops with cell maturation. L domain proteins are thought to recruit the cellular machinery needed for virus cell separation from the plasma membrane. The research shows an apparent correlation between L domains and ubiquitin.