Actin cytonauts at play in the cell

(Phys.org) —Actin "comets" are scaffolds of polymer that various bacteria and viruses construct within cells. Party-crashers, like Listeria or Shigella bacteria, are able to seed structures using special patches of their ...

How HIV smuggles its genetic material into the cell nucleus

Each year, about 1 million individuals worldwide become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. To replicate and spread the infection, the virus must smuggle its genetic material into the cell nucleus and integrate ...

Research group describes how cilia's motor works

Using cryo-electron tomography, researchers have uncovered details of how the dynein motor protein drives cilia to beat. Understanding this motion may help to tackle health problems that affect cilia, which range from fertility ...

3-D model shows bacterial motor in action

Nagoya University scientists in Japan and colleagues at Yale University in the US have uncovered details of how the bacterial propeller, known as the flagellum, switches between counterclockwise and clockwise rotation, allowing ...

Microscopic chariots deliver molecules within our cells

On the cellular highway, motor proteins called dyneins rule the road. Dyneins "walk" along structures called microtubules to deliver cellular cargo, such as signaling molecules and organelles, to different parts of a cell. ...

Scientists illuminate structures vital to virus replication

In the fight against the viruses that invade everyday life, seeing and understanding the battleground is essential. Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have, for the first time, imaged molecular structures ...

Seeing viruses by both light and electron microscopy

Advances in both light and electron microscopy are improving scientists' ability to visualize viruses such as HIV, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles, influenza, and Zika in their native states. Researchers from Emory ...

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