Find a virus with armor

2000/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Mikrobiologia

An international group of researchers from Stanford and Upsala Universities and the Scripps and Pittsburgh Institutes have discovered a virus protected by protein armor. This is the first time this structure is seen. The bacteriophage virus HK97 has a tail shape associated with a balloon, with the head formed by 72 protein rings, 12 pentagons and 60 hexagons. These are united together as Olympic rings surrounding the virus DNA molecule. The armor looks like a 20-sided soccer ball and probably serves to protect the virus. For their part, researchers consider that it can have interesting applications in nanotechnology, since the structure is very stable.