Scientists have successfully analyzed key HIV structure

Scientists at the Salk Institute in the US have recently analyzed the atomic structure of a key part of the HIV virus, a key structure called intasome that helps to integrate HIV into human host DNA and replicate it in the body. The results of the study have been published in the international academic journal Science which has published studies on recombinant human proteins, helping to develop new HIV therapies.

"HIV is a very smart virus and has learned how to escape the best drugs," said Dmitry Lyumkis, author of this study. "In-depth understanding of virus escape mechanisms and the development of more robust drugs will be a major focus in future research."

In this new study, the researchers used single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that allows scientists to capture images of larger, more complex molecules. They added a special protein to the integrants to promote the solubility of the integrants in glycerol and added salt ions to prevent protein aggregation.

All retrovirus integrators have core structural components to perform the integration function. The researchers compared the core components of the HIV integrants with those of the PFV and found that there were some differences. The researchers said that although only a small difference, it may be very important for drug development and understanding of drug resistance mechanism.

To the surprise of the researchers, HIV integrins are more complex than other retroviruses. It was previously known that the core of the HIV integration consists of four parts, but the new study found that there are more components of the HIV integration. Research evidence suggests that more complex integrants are better able to help HIV integrate itself into the host genome.

"The complexity of the HIV integrase suggests how nature shapes the evolution of retroviruses," the researchers say. The HIV virus can perform other functions that the virus can't do, such as entering the nucleus through active transport processes without waiting for cell division. The researchers gave an analogy: HIV is like a luxury car, while other retroviruses are economic cars. Although they are cars, the HIV integration is a more important upgrade to complete the different work.

The researchers hypothesized that HIV integrates in a variety of ways. The current focus of the study is the integration of host DNA to complete the integration of the body. By the way, Cusabio provides recombinant proteins of good quality such as recombinant ECE1 at good prices.