How AIDS Pathogens Multiply in the Body

A European research team led by Prof. Christian Eggeling has succeeded in using high-resolution imaging to make visible to the millisecond how HIV spreads between living cells and which molecules it requires for this purpose. Using superresolution STED fluorescence microscopy, the researchers provide direct proof for the first time that the AIDS pathogen creates a certain lipid environment for replication. They used the protein Gag as a marker, which coordinates the processes involved in the maturation of the virus. In order to decipher these, the researchers examined the diffusion at this budding site of the virus particle. They found out that only certain lipids interact with HIV. Although these lipids were already known in principle, the research team was able to prove this interaction directly in living and infected cells for the first time. "This provides us with a potential target for antiviral drugs," says Christian Eggeling. "Knowing which molecules the HIV needs in order to leave the cell and multiply is a crucial prerequisite for investigating how this can be prevented."

- Sophia Gamboa
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