Modeling and simulation of fully-glycosylated full-length HIV envelope protein embedded in a viral membrane

According to World Health Organization (WHO), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be a major global health issue. Although the current antiretroviral therapy can suppress viral load and improve life quality, there is no cure for HIV infection. The HIV envelope (Env) spike trimer, stabilized in prefusion-closed conformation, is a promising antigenic target to trigger the host immune system to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies. Numerous structures of soluble Env spike trimer mimics have been solved by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), but nearly all of them have missing residues and the transmembrane and membrane-proximal external regions are truncated to prevent aggregation.