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  • 38402160995364419201080317551922519105620PublicAssets/3771Viruses have been the foes of animals and other organisms for time immemorial. For almost as long, they've stayed well hidden from view because they are so tiny (they aren't even cells, so scientists call the individual virus a "particle"). This image shows a molecular model of a particle of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), a virus that infects and sometimes causes cancer in chickens. In the background is a photo of red blood cells. The particle shown is "immature" (not yet capable of infecting new cells) because it has just budded from an infected chicken cell and entered the bird's bloodstream. The outer shell of the immature virus is made up of a regular assembly of large proteins (shown in red) that are linked together with short protein molecules called peptides (green).&nbsp; This outer shell covers and protects the proteins (blue) that form the inner shell of the particle. But as you can see, the protective armor of the immature virus contains gaping holes. As the particle matures, the short peptides are removed and the large proteins rearrange, fusing together into a solid sphere capable of infecting new cells. While still immature, the particle is vulnerable to drugs that block its development. Knowing the structure of the immature particle may help scientists develop better medications against RSV and similar viruses in humans. Scientists used sophisticated computational tools to reconstruct the RSV atomic structure by crunching various data on the RSV proteins to simulate the entire structure of immature RSV. For more on RSV and how researchers revealed its delicate structure, see the NIH director's blog post <a href="https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/04/14/snapshots-of-life-imperfect-but-beautiful-intruder/">Snapshots of Life: Imperfect but Beautiful Intruder.</a>Boon Chong Goh, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignBoon Chong Goh, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignIllustration

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    CellsMolecular StructuresTools and Techniques

    Molecular model of freshly made Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)

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    Viruses have been the foes of animals and other organisms for time immemorial. For almost as long, they've stayed well hidden from view because they are so tiny (they aren't even cells, so scientists call the individual virus a "particle"). This image shows a molecular model of a particle of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), a virus that infects and sometimes causes cancer in chickens. In the background is a photo of red blood cells. The particle shown is "immature" (not yet capable of infecting new cells) because it has just budded from an infected chicken cell and entered the bird's bloodstream. The outer shell of the immature virus is made up of a regular assembly of large proteins (shown in red) that are linked together with short protein molecules called peptides (green).  This outer shell covers and protects the proteins (blue) that form the inner shell of the particle. But as you can see, the protective armor of the immature virus contains gaping holes. As the particle matures, the short peptides are removed and the large proteins rearrange, fusing together into a solid sphere capable of infecting new cells. While still immature, the particle is vulnerable to drugs that block its development. Knowing the structure of the immature particle may help scientists develop better medications against RSV and similar viruses in humans. Scientists used sophisticated computational tools to reconstruct the RSV atomic structure by crunching various data on the RSV proteins to simulate the entire structure of immature RSV. For more on RSV and how researchers revealed its delicate structure, see the NIH director's blog post Snapshots of Life: Imperfect but Beautiful Intruder.

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    Boon Chong Goh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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    Boon Chong Goh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Record Type

    Illustration

    ID

    3771

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