Switching on HIV

摘要

Newly assembled human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virions bud from the host cell as immature particles. Proteolysis of the Gag protein, which forms a structural lattice below the viral membrane, leads to the formation of mature infectious HIV. Fusion of mature HIV virions with a target cell is mediated by viral envelope (Env) proteins that occur in trimeric "spikes" on the surface of the virion. Chojnacki et al. (p. 524) used subdiffraction microscopy to show that the spikes were dispersed on the immature virion but clustered into a single focus on the mature virion.