Medical expert of the article
New publications
Gamers have deciphered the structure of a key HIV enzyme
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Fans of the online game "Fold-it", developed by specialists from the University of Washington, helped decipher the structure of a key HIV enzyme.
Firas Khatib, a representative of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, said that in order to determine the three-dimensional puzzle of the structure of the protease enzyme, which plays a very important role in the life cycle of retroviruses, scientists asked gamers to help, who had to choose the optimal version of the enzyme structure.
To solve the task at hand – selecting the most optimal structure of retroviral protease – gamers needed only three weeks.
Scientists refined this version and presented an exact model of the enzyme a few days later. According to them, in this molecule, gamers were able to identify new targets for antiretroviral drugs that inactivate the protease enzyme.