HIV maturation, HIV viral life cycle, illustration

Watercolour and ink on paper illustration of HIV maturation. After fully assembled virus particles have been released from an infected target cell (usually CD4 T cells, a type of white blood cell found in the immune system), they undergo a process of maturation in order to become fully infectious viral particles. Two virus particles (virions) are visible here: an immature viron in the process of maturation (bottom right) and a nearly-mature virion (upper left). HIV protease (dark red; small molecules visible in the virion undergoing maturation) cleaves the Gag and gag-pol proteins into functional proteins. Width of image is approximately 100 nm. This image forms part of a series of illustrations which capture HIV at eight different points in the viral life cycle as it infects a cell and replicates.