title: Catching HIV 'in the act' with 3D electron microscopy.
abstract: The development of a safe, effective vaccine to prevent HIV infection is a key step for controlling the disease on a global scale. However, many aspects of HIV biology make vaccine design problematic, including the sequence diversity and structural variability of the surface envelope glycoproteins and the poor accessibility of neutralization-sensitive epitopes on the virus. In this review, we discuss recent progress in understanding HIV in a structural context using emerging tools in 3D electron microscopy, and outline how some of these advances could be important for a better understanding of mechanisms of viral entry and for vaccine design.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Lesley A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Earl
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lifson
authors.forename: Sriram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods; D006678:HIV / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D053586:Virus Internalization
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines
keywords: cryo-electron tomography; focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM); ion abrasion scanning electron microscopy (IA-SEM); vaccine design; virus–cell interaction