Online gamers decode enzyme

Online gamers have decoded the structure of a retrovirus enzyme, which has a configuration that had stymied scientists, according to a National Science Foundation press statement. After scientists repeatedly failed to piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus, Foldit gamers were asked to help. Foldit, a computer game, allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

The scientists challenged the gamers to produce an accurate model of the enzyme. This class of enzymes, called retroviral proteases, plays a critical role in how the AIDS virus matures and proliferates. Intensive research into blocking these enzymes is underway, but this has been hampered by the lack of information on retroviral protease molecules.

“We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods failed,” said biochemist Firas Khatib of the University of Washington (UW). The gamers generated models for the researchers to refine and determine the enzyme's structure within a few days. Surfaces on of the molecule stood out as likely targets for drugs to de-active the enzyme. “These features provide exciting opportunities for the design of retroviral drugs, including AIDS drugs,” write Khatib and the co-authors of a paper in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Foldit was created by computer scientists and biochemists at the UW Center for Game Science, and by biochemist David Baker, to engage the general public in scientific discovery.