Molecular Biology

DNA In Some Viruses At Pressure 10x That In Champagne

Published in AIDS Weekly, November 12th, 2001

The DNA inside some viruses is packed so tightly that the internal pressure reaches 10 times that in a champagne bottle, according to new measurements by biophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota.

The researchers suspect that this high pressure helps the virus spurt its DNA into a cell once it has latched onto the surface. Once the DNA gets inside, it begins retooling the cell to manufacture new viruses. The process eventually kills the cell, but not before generating thousands more viruses to spread the infection.

Such tight packing is achieved by one of the most powerful molecular motors ever...

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Source: AIDS Weekly (2001-11-12)

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