CHEETAH Center for the Structural Biology of HIV Infection, Restriction and Viral Dynamics

Image showing how a budding HIV particle is organized by the viral Gag (gold/tan tones) and Gag-Pol proteins (gold tones plus green and yellow) in complex with the viral RNA (blue), and showing how ESCRT-III subunits (turquoise) localize and constrict the bud neck and are recycled by the hexameric VPS4 ATPase (purple) during the budding process.

Credit

Illustration by Janet Iwasa, based upon structures of Gag, ALIX, ESCRT-III and VPS4 structures and domains determined in the CHEETAH Center.

Image showing how a budding HIV particle is organized by the viral Gag (gold/tan tones) and Gag-Pol proteins (gold tones plus green and yellow) in complex with the viral RNA (blue), and showing how ESCRT-III subunits (turquoise) localize and constrict the bud neck and are recycled by the hexameric VPS4 ATPase (purple) during the budding process.

Credit: Illustration by Janet Iwasa, based upon structures of Gag, ALIX, ESCRT-III and VPS4 structures and domains determined in the CHEETAH Center.

Principal investigator: Wesley Sundquist, Ph.D., University of Utah

The CHEETAH Center for the Structural Biology of HIV Infection, Restriction, and Viral Dynamics is organized around three Scientific Projects and three Technology Cores. The Scientific Projects will: 1) define the steps in the first half of the HIV-1 life cycle in molecular and mechanistic detail; 2) define the structural and mechanistic bases for host recognition, restriction, and innate immune responses to HIV-1; and 3) characterize and modulate HIV-1 dynamics across multiple size and resolution scales, including whole-animal studies that will identify sites of viral rebound at the cellular and tissue levels, to structural studies of proviral silencing and reactivation, to studies that attempt to create new pantropic blocks to enveloped virus budding and new biologics delivery systems. These Projects will advance our understanding of HIV/host interactions and provide the foundations for developing new therapeutic strategies for HIV treatment and cure. 

Visit the CHEETAH Center website.

Reconstitution and visualization of HIV-1 capsid-dependent replication and integration in vitro

Illustration depicting nuclear HIV capsids completing reverse transcription while largely intact and then uncoating and integrating the viral DNA into a host cell chromosome. Created by Janet Iwasa to accompany Christensen, et al., Science Vol. 370 (6513):abc8420 (2020).

Illustration depicting nuclear HIV capsids completing reverse transcription while largely intact and then uncoating and integrating the viral DNA into a host cell chromosome. Created by Janet Iwasa to accompany Christensen, et al., Science Vol. 370 (6513):abc8420 (2020).