A Resource for Studying Biological Macromolecules

Influenza virus is continually changing and every decade or so, a dangerous new strain appears and poses a threat to public health. This year, there has been an outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 flu, more commonly known as swine flu. The H1N1 designation refers to the two molecules that cover the surface of the virus: hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Together, these two molecules control the infectivity of the virus. Hemagglutinin plays the starring role as the virus approaches a cell, binding to polysaccharide chains on the cell surface and then injecting the viral genome into the cell. Neuraminidase, on the other hand, plays its major role when the virus is leaving an infected cell. It ensures that the virus doesn't get stuck on the cell surface by clipping off the ends of these polysaccharide chains.
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When cells divide, they need to ensure that each daughter cell gets one copy of each chromosome. Bacteria contain one big circle of DNA, so they start replication in one place, then copy the DNA both ways around until it finishes on the other side. PSI Researchers have solved the first atomic structure at how bacteria use the Hda protein to initiate replication at this origin only once for each generation of the cell.
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