Scientists say they have decoded the entire genetic content of the HIV-1 virus, a key source of Aids infection. They hope this will pave the way to a greater understanding of how the virus operates, and potentially accelerate the development of drug treatments. HIV carries its genetic information in morecomplicated structures than some other viruses. The US research, published in Nature, may allow scientists the chance to look at the information buried inside. HIV, like the viruses which cause influenza, hepatitis C and polio, carries its genetic information as single-stranded RNA rather than double-stranded DNA. The information enclosed in DNA is encoded in a relatively simple way, but in RNA this is more complex. RNA is able to fold into intricate patterns and structures. Therefore decoding a full genome opens up geneticinformation that was not previously accessible, and may hold answers to why the virus acts as it does.
