https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02223-x
Regular Article
DNA confinement drives uncoating of the HIV Virus
1 Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
a e-mail: rouzi002@umn.edu
Received: 30 June 2014
Revised: 21 July 2014
Published online: 22 September 2014
The enzyme reverse transcriptase converts single-stranded RNA molecules into double-stranded DNA molecules inside mature HIV viral capsids. We present a model for the uncoating of the HIV virus where the capsid uncoating process is driven by the confinement force exerted on the capsid wall porduced to the double-stranded DNA generated by reverse transcriptase.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2014
