Viruses' Coping Mechanism Demystified, Opening the Door to New Vaccine Strategies (IMAGE)
Caption
Certain kinds of viruses such as those that cause the common cold and hepatitis, copy themselves using a unique mechanism, according to a team of Penn State University scientists that includes David Boehr, an assistant professor of chemistry and a co-leader of the research team. The discovery sheds light on a never-before-understood region of an enzyme associated with the process of replicating genetic material. The research is an important step toward designing vaccines against viruses that have eluded vaccination strategies in the past, and improving existing vaccines. This image illustrates a structure of the virus that causes polio and other RNA viruses, called motif D, which the research revealed is part of the mechanism by which genetic material is replicated accurately. The image shows how motif D identifies nucleotides to make sure that a new strand of RNA is replicated faithfully. The research will be published in the print issue of the journal Structure on Sept. 5, 2012.
Credit
Boehr lab, Penn State University
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