Chemical Visualization of Human Pathogens : The Retroviral Capsids
Authors: Juan R. Perilla (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Boon Chong Goh (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), John Stone (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Klaus Schulten (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Abstract: Retroviruses are pathogens characterized by their ability to
incorporate viral DNA into a host cell's genome. Retroviruses like
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) infect cells during mitosis, when the
chromatin is exposed to the cytoplasm. Conversely, the genus of
lentiviruses, like the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), have
evolved to infect non-dividing cells. Despite
infecting cells at different stages of their life cycles, RSV and HIV
share a similar late stage replication cycle that is highly dependent
on the group actin polyprotein precursor (Gag), which contains the
matrix (MA), capsid (CA) and nucleocapsid (NC) proteins. Both HIV's CA
and Gag are considered unexploited targets for pharmaceutical
intervention. We describe the techniques that were used to build,
simulate, analyze and visualize the structures of both Gag and CA, as
well as we discuss scientific visualization needs that spurred
development of an interactive GPU-accelerated ray tracing engine and
the use of remote visualization technologies.
PDF: pdf
Video: video
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