Imaging solves mystery of how large HIV protein functions to form infectious virus
Assistant Professor Dmitry Lyumkis, co-first author Dario Passos, and colleagues from Rutgers University have determined the molecular structure of HIV Pol, a protein that plays a key role in the late stages of HIV replication—the process through which the virus propagates itself and spreads through the body. The molecule’s structure helps answer long-standing questions about how the protein breaks itself apart to advance the replication process. The discovery reveals a new vulnerability in the virus that could be targeted with drugs.
