Date: January 26, 2018
Time: 1:30-2:30pm
Location: PSB 160/161
Speaker: Owen Pornillos (University of Virginia)
Title: Structural Biology of HIV Assembly and Maturation
Abstract: HIV assembles and buds from infected cells in an
immature, non-infectious form. Subsequently, proteolytic
cleavage catalyzed by the viral protease leads to a dramatic
structural rearrangement of the virus particle into a mature
form that is competent to fuse with and infect a new cell. Our
group is interested in understanding the structures of the
immature and mature HIV particles. Recently, we characterized a molecular switch that directs assembly of the immature capsid shell, and during maturation, disassembly of the immature lattice and re-assembly of the mature capsid. This work also led to important insights on how experimental drugs called “maturation inhibitors” disrupt the switch and thereby, HIV replication.
