Capsid disassembly (IMAGE)

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

Capsid disassembly

Caption

A viral capsid is a structure that contains a virus’s genetic material; in the case of hepatitis B, the capsid is an icosahedral structure about 36 nanometers in diameter and composed of 240 identical proteins. Capsid disassembly, wherein the capsid physically breaks apart, is essential for a virus to infect a cell, as it allows the virus to release its own genetic material into the host cell's nucleus and eventually use the host cell’s replication machinery to multiply. Understanding this process on an atomic level is imperative for one therapeutic approach to combat hepatitis B and other similar infections.

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Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

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