Israeli Scientists Reveal Shape of Retroviruses

Apr. 17 - Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot have revealed for the first time the shape of a protein that helps retroviruses, which cause AIDS and cancers such as leukemia, break into cells. Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents. They manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wreak damage. A Weizmann team and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, have obtained a close-up three-dimensional portrait of the large protein complex on the virus that enables its entry into the cell. Their work appears in the Proceedings of the [US] National Academy of Sciences. The team hopes, with further research, to understand the conformational changes the envelope protein complex undergoes as it works, and to find ways to stop those changes from taking place.

Source: Israel21c.org news for April 17-23, 2005 [FullText]