WMothesWenwei’s peer-reviewed work imaging how the spike proteins of HIV engage CD4 receptor in membranes by cryoET appeared online. We observe that spike trimers first bind 1, then 2 receptor molecules before docking 3. A parallel paper by Kim-Marie Dam and Pamela Bjorkman presents high-resolution structures for these intermediates. Thus, the very first steps how HIV infects cells are more complex than we thought. #hiv #virusentry #spike #yale https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06762-6
PLOS Biology#AlphaFold structure prediction shows that the hepaci-, pegi- and #pestiviruses likely share a novel molecular mechanism for #VirusEntry by membrane fusion, with implications for structure-guided #vaccine design @GroveLab @KamillaToon &co #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3JTzK77
Structures of the Hepaci-, Pegi-, and Pestiviruses envelope proteins suggest a novel membrane fusion mechanism
The entry mechanisms of many viruses remain unknown. In this article, Oliver and Toon et al. use next-gen protein structure prediction to demonstrate that the hepaci-, pegi- and pestiviruses likely share a novel molecular mechanism for virus entry by membrane fusion. This work informs on the evolution and origins of these viruses and may contribute to structure-guided vaccine design for important human and animal pathogens.