The unidentified structure of a retroviral enzyme, M-PMV (Mason-Pfizer Monkey Virus) retroviral protease, was remarkably discovered by a group of online gamers recruited by University of Washington, Center for Game Science. Although gaming is a novel, and also quite an unorthodox, means of research, not only did the gamers propose the viral structure to an outstandingly accurate degree, they were also able to solve the lingering mystery, which hampered much progress in HIV drug research for decades, in a mere three weeks.
Retroviral proteases are proteins that are integral to the propagation of viruses. They harness the ability to cleave newly synthesized viral polyproteins at target sites. Polyproteins are long chains of polypeptides that are cleaved to separate into multiple, functional components. This creates mature proteins that are needed for the dissemination of virions, or infective viral particles. Many attempts to create inhibitory drugs that block this function of retroviral proteases have failed, due to the prolonged uncertainty of their structure.
Failing to piece together the anatomically taxing puzzle, scientists at University of Washington called for the gamers' help to test out the potential of the relatively new method of research. These gamers were able to discover the arrangement of the protein via Foldit, an online, collaborative game that supplies players with tools to compete in predicting protein structures.
Although the M-PMV, a type of simian AIDS, has been crystallized before, scientists were not able to define the structure by traditional, computerized means for fifteen years. Thus, the rising research-gaming industry proved itself as an effective means of predicting protein shapes, demonstrating the primacy of human intuition in research.
The alluring element of the gaming method is the unneeded requirement of professional knowledge in the byzantine world of binding dynamics or other fundamental biophysical or biochemical concepts. Foldit, the online game that paved way for the once putatively far-reaching ambition, requires only a slightly heightened sense of spatial awareness and matching skills. Gamers begin to learn the basic laws of physics embedded in the fundamental behavior of molecular structures while pulling, twisting, and manipulating the components of the protein to create thermodynamically stable structures. The game is simple: the lower the energy that the model requires, the higher amount of points given to the player.
The computer game effectively bridges the strengths of human geometrical perception with some automated computations to yield a powerful instrument for research. The new method presents encouraging steps towards solving other biological puzzles that have eluded scientists for too long. Through gaming techniques, mechanisms involved in cancer, Alzheimer's, immune deficiencies, and other disorders can be examined by channeling our perceptive abilities that supersede that of contemporary computers to solve these scientific enigmas.
The crucial product of a discovery is a hint or observation that would allow us to further understand the phenomena that occur in our world. This time, the gamers were able to find surface features on the retrovirus that seem to be a promising target for drugs against viruses, including HIV. How effectively these drugs can bind to the viral particles is dependent on further research, but the gamers have made an impressive foothold for advancing knowledge about the virus.
