Online gamers solve AIDS protein riddle
Players of Foldit, an online game, unlocked the protein structure of retroviral protease, an enzyme that helps HIV multiply. This recent development and understanding of how the protein is built could help scientists develop drugs to stop HIV/AIDS from spreading.
“Following the failure of a wide range of attempts to solve the crystal structure of M-PMV retroviral protease by molecular replacement, we challenged players of the protein folding game Foldit to produce accurate models of the protein,” the study reads. “Remarkably, Foldit players were able to generate models of sufficient quality for successful molecular replacement and subsequent structure determination. The refined structure provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs.”
On the web: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393200,00.asp
