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Nature 427, 307-308 (22 January 2004) | doi:10.1038/427307a

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Virology: A class act

Theodore S. Jardetzky1 & Robert A. Lamb1

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Membrane fusion occurs in many situations in living organisms — when certain viruses enter host cells, for instance. Three crystal structures shed light on the protein rearrangements that bring about such fusion.

Many viruses, such as the dengue fever, influenza and human immunodeficiency viruses, are encased in a lipid membrane. To reproduce, such 'enveloped' viruses must enter a host cell by fusing their own membrane coat with that of the cell.

  1. Theodore S. Jardetzky and Robert A. Lamb are in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3500, USA.

Correspondence to: Theodore S. Jardetzky1 Email: tedj@northwestern.edu

Correspondence to: Robert A. Lamb1 Email: ralamb@northwestern.edu

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