You will find mostly posts of the San Francisco Giants and San Jose Sharks on this blog, depending on when time of the year it is. 1x06 / 3x08
Mechanism of HIV membrane fusion with a CD4-expressing immune cell:
1. Initial interaction between gp120 and CD4.
2. Conformational change in gp120 allows for secondary interaction with a cell-type specific chemokine, e.g. CCR5.
3. The distal tips of gp41 are inserted in to the cellular membrane.
4. gp41 undergoes significant conformational change; folding in half and forming coiled-coils. This process pulls the viral and cellular membranes together, fusing them.
Following fusion, the viral core is released into the cell cytoplasm.