title: Capturing glimpses of an elusive HIV gp41 prehairpin fusion intermediate.
abstract: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies on an HIV gp41 construct reported by Lakomek and colleagues in this issue of Structure have revealed the conformational dynamics of a possible trimeric prehairpin fusion intermediate and its interactions with lipids. Two alternative fusion pathways are compared based on this work and a previous NMR structure of a monomeric lipid-bound gp41 ectodomain construct.
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology and Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. Electronic address: lkt2e@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Lukas K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Tamm
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology and Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
authors.forename: Jinwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology and Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
authors.forename: Binyong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000737:chemistry*; D010767:Phosphorylcholine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; C514787:gp41 protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D010767:Phosphorylcholine; C028810:dodecylphosphocholine