Question

Describe the structure of HIV with diagram.

Answer 1

HIV is the abbreviation form of the Human immunodeficiency virus, The shape is of the virus is spherical. The virus is composed of a capsid core which contains the genetic material that has been surrounded by a protein envelope. The protein envelope has many spikes of the glycoprotein. The outer part of glycoprotein called gp120 is attached to the gp41 which is the inner part of the glycoprotein. The envelope of HIV also contains other proteins including some HLA antigens (Human Leucocyte Antigen). The genome of HIV contains two helices of RNA molecules in folded form. The enzymes reverse transcriptase is present which is responsible for the conversion of the RNA to form the DNA. There is another enzyme called as integrase which helps the viral genome to incorporate in the host cell.