Building-blocks and Allosteric Transitions in Herpesvirus Assembly

Assembly is a crucial step in the replication cycles of all viruses, but particularly for complex viruses such as herpesviruses and retroviruses. Their assembly involves two stages: production of a precursor particle, and maturation. This talk will describe regulatory mechanisms that are operative in both stages, but particularly limited proteolysis and the large-scale conformational changes that govern maturation.  For HIV, maturation is increasingly seen as a process that may be targeted by antiviral drugs. The aberrant virion morphologies produced by two classes of anti-HIV drugs will be described and discussed.