HIV-1 Capsid Core: A Bullet to the Heart of the Target Cell.

ABSTRACT: The first step of the intracellular phase of retroviral infection is the release of the viral capsid core in the cytoplasm. This structure contains the viral genetic material that will be reverse transcribed and integrated into the genome of infected cells. Up to recent times, the role of the capsid core was considered essentially to protect this genetic material during the earlier phases of this process. However, increasing evidence demonstrates that the permanence inside the cell of the capsid as an intact, or almost intact, structure is longer than thought. This suggests its involvement in more aspects of the infectious cycle than previously foreseen, particularly in the steps of viral genomic material translocation into the nucleus and in the phases preceding integration. During the tr

SUBMITTER: Toccafondi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8046902 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature