Research: HIV revealed

26 January 2006

The 3-D structure of the virus that causes AIDS has been revealed for the first time, and could inform the development of more effective therapies.

HIV is hard to map as it varies in size and shape, so the UK-German team took about 100 images each of 70 individual viruses, and then used specialist computer software to look for similarities.

Working with colleagues in Heidelberg and Munich, the research team at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University found some consistent features, such as a cone-shaped core spanning the width of the viral membrane. Spikes on the outside of the membrane bind to T cells and allow the virus to invade them, the research team led by Oxford University's Professor Stephen Fuller discovered.

So while most viruses have internal structures that define the size, in the HIV virus it is the membrane that defines the size. This puts constraints on the way the virus can assemble, revealing a way of potentially halting its development.

External links

• 3D structure of HIV is 'revealed' (BBC news 24 January 2006)
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
• Briggs, J.A., Grunewald, K., Glass, B., Forster, F., Krausslich, H.G., and Fuller, S.D. (2006). The Mechanism of HIV-1 Core Assembly: Insights from Three-Dimensional Reconstructions of Authentic Virions Structure 14, 15-20. (Summary and full paper)