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Hundreds of thousands of molecules join together to form a new HIV particle in just five minutes, according to new research conducted—and visually recorded—by a team of scientists at Rockefeller University in New York. According toScience Daily, summarizing a report in a May 25 online issue of the journal Nature, this is the first time scientists have visually recorded what they say is the “birth” of new HIV inside a human cell.
Though researchers have developed a fairly clear understanding of how new HIV particles are assembled and released from CD4 cells, no one had ever visually documented this process.
Rockefeller researchers Nolwenn Jovenet, Paul Bieniasz and Sanford Simon used an imaging technique called total internal reflection microscopy to illuminate the surface of CD4 cells where HIV assembles. This allowed the researchers to see various viral molecules coming together to form a single HIV virion, over a period of five to six minutes.
The team’s recording of the cell assembly process gives scientists a new tool to investigate theories about viral assembly and, according to Science Daily, may also prove useful in developing new HIV treatments.
