First accurate simulation of a virus invading a cell
The experiment was designed to investigate how a virus' protein shell -- a capsid -- changes as it prepares to inject its genetic material into a cell. These altered virus particles are known as A-particles, or virus entry intermediates. In previous experiments, exposing a virus to extreme heat or proteins caused the shape of the entire capsid shell to change. These were the closest observable simulations to a virus invading a cell that had been devised at the time. "Using these lab tricks, my lab and those of other researchers were able to create high-resolution structures of the altered virus particles, but all of these tricks were triggering the capsid from all directions," said Susan Hafenstein, assistant professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology, Penn State College of Medicine. Hafenstein hypothesized that in a more realistic simulation, only the part of the virus that interacted with receptors on the cell would change shape. In the new experim...