Researchers report that they have determined the precise
chemical structure of the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects the virus’s
genetic material and is a key to its virulence. The capsid has become an
attractive target for the development of new antiretroviral drugs.
The report appears in the journal Nature.
Scientists have long sought to understand how the HIV capsid
is constructed, and many studies have chipped away at its mystery. Researchers
have used a variety of laboratory techniques – cryo-electron microscopy,
cryo-EM tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and X-ray
crystallography, to name a few – to peer at individual parts of the capsid in
revealing detail, or to get a sense of the whole.