Gamers’ ingenuity unfolds AIDS enzyme

Gamers have taken to a purpose-written computer game called Foldit to twist open the secrets of an enzyme of an AIDS-family virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade – in a record three weeks.

The exploit was published on Sunday in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where — exceptionally in scientific publishing — both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors. Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

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