From hot springs to HIV, same protein complexes are hijacked to promote viruses
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 17:30
in Biology & Nature
This is a scanning electron micrograph of Sulfolobus solfataricus cells infected with STIV, showing pyramid-like structures on the surface of the cell. Biologists from Indiana University and Montana State University have discovered a striking connection between viruses such as HIV and Ebola and viruses that infect organisms called archaea that grow in volcanic hot springs. Despite the huge difference in environments and a 2 billion year evolutionary time span between archaea and humans, the viruses hijack the same set of proteins to break out of infected cells.