Multimedia Gallery
Naked HIV capsid and cyclophilin A
In a study led by researchers at the University of Illinois, experimental data and computer simulations were used to determine how a human protein that aids HIV infection binds to the HIV capsid (the protein coat that shepherds HIV into the nucleus of human cells). In this image, the naked HIV capsid (left) would be quickly detected and eliminated from the cell, but a host protein, cyclophilin A (in red in the image on the right), binds to the capsid and enables it to transit through the cell undetected.
More about this image
A new study offers the first atomic-scale view of an interaction between the HIV capsid and a host protein known as cyclophilin A. This interaction is key to HIV infection, researchers say.
For the study, the researchers used Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, as well as the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to simulate the interactions between cyclophilin A and the HIV capsid.
The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (grants PHY 14-30124, OCI 07-25070 and ACI 12-38993).
To learn more about this research, see the Illinois news story Study offers clearest picture yet of how HIV defeats a cellular defender. (Date image taken: February 2016; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Aug. 8, 2016)
Credit: Graphic by Juan R. Perilla, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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