ESCRT-I part II: forming the real ESCRT-I complex

Many enveloped viruses hijack the cellular ESCRT machinery to catalyze their escape from host cells. One paper in a recent issue of Cell by Kostelansky et al. and another in this issue of Cell Host & Microbe by Morita et al. shed new light on the structure and function of ESCRT-I. Both papers focus on a fourth ESCRT-I component that shapes ESCRT-I into an elongated structure and affects HIV-1 morphogenesis.