by Gertrud U. Rey According to established scientific dogma, infection of cells with HIV-1 leads to delivery of the viral capsid into the cell cytoplasm, followed by “uncoating” of the capsid to release the single-stranded RNA genome. A viral-encoded enzyme called reverse transcriptase then catalyzes the conversion of the viral RNA into a single strand …
One aspect of virology that is confusing to students is the concepts of capsids and nucleocapsids. These two terms describe two different ways that viral nucleic acids and proteins are arranged in virus particles. The capsid (from the Latin capsa for box) is the protein shell surrounding the nucleic acid genome. Below are two different …
A capsid-like protein derived from an ancient retrotransposon family may help regulate learning and memory.
HSV-1 virions capture the cellular motor protein kinesin from initially infected epithelial cells and ferry it to subsequently infected neuronal cells to deliver their genome into the nucleus of those cells.
Starting with a bacterial protein, directed evolution in the laboratory has been used to produce a virus-like capsid that binds and protects RNA. This finding has implications for the origins of viruses. One view of the evolution of life is that viruses were present even before the first cells in the form of self-replicating molecules. …
Evolution of a bacterial protein into a virus-like, RNA binding capsid Read More »
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