PWNED: Online Gamers Decipher AIDS-like Virus Enzyme Structure

Today, I conquered a monomeric protease enzyme. Tomorrow, Azeroth!

Gamers pride! Within three weeks, a group of gamers managed to create an accurate model of the structure of an AIDS-like virus enzyme which had stumped scientists for years, using an online video game called Foldit. Read more after the jump.

"Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them.


But a microscope gives only a flat image of what to the outsider looks like a plate of one-dimensional scrunched-up spaghetti. Pharmacologists, though, need a 3-D picture that "unfolds" the molecule and rotates it in order to reveal potential targets for drugs.

This is where Foldit comes in.

Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- using a set of online tools.

To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks.

Cracking the enzyme "provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs," says the study, referring to the lifeline medication against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
It is believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem." (Via Pluggedin)

Cool, huh? And people say I waste my time wandering around fighting dragons with a claymore. Take that, all you people with real jobs!