This research carried out by an American team, from the University of Delaware and Cornell University reveals new details on the structure of the capsid of the HIV virus and on its evolution. This viral shell, a tough protein structure that surrounds the genome, needs a small protein, called IP6, to assemble itself. Without IP6, show this work presented in the journal Nature, the virus cannot complete its life cycle. Therefore, IP6 (InsP6 for inositol hexakisphosphate) appears as a new promising target.
IP6 plays an important role in the immature and mature phases of the HIV life cycle when the virus assembles its structure, explains lead author Robert Dick, postdoctoral researcher at Cornell: "A cell can produce millions of viral particles, but if they do not go through the maturation process, they are not infectious”.
Trace the assembly of the virus by supercomputer: these conclusions are the culmination of calculations and analyzes via the use of supercomputers to model the capsid of the HIV virus and the role of IP6 in its assembly. With these techniques, say the scientists, which allow the analysis of laboratory data by “supercomputers”, it is possible to trace the entire evolution of the virus. These simulations carried out as part of the XSEDE program (Extreme Science and Engineering Environment) could also be applied to other viruses, including HBV. Moreover, the researchers also studied other retroviruses in this way, including avian viruses.
While HIV uses IP6 to assemble, develop and become infectious, researchers want to understand how retroviruses in general have developed know-how allowing them to use this type of molecule. Because if viruses evolve, this assembly mechanism is still important .
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