Scientists have identified a “seam of functional importance” in the proteins complex that coats the HIV genome which could “point the way to new treatments for blocking HIV infection”, according to a report today in the journal Cell.

The researchers from the medical school of Pittsburgh University used structural biology tools to describe “both the overall shape and the atomic details” of the architecture of the protein complex.

“This strategy allowed us to see both the forest and the trees,” explained study co-author Dr Peijung Zhang.

“Knowing what the CA (capsid) protein looks like and how the capsid is built will allow scientists to rationally design therapeutic compounds that interfere with assembly of the protein and affect its function.”

Senior author Dr Angela Gronenborn said: “Our lab experiments show that if we replace a few of the pivotal stitches in the seam by mutation, the resulting viruses are less infectious or even non-infectious.

“The capsid, and therefore the virus, can no longer function properly.”

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