Structure

The outer envelope of HIV is a lipid membrane derived from the host cell. Protruding from this deck viral transmembrane glycoproteins gp41 and gp120 envelope glycoproteins that allow the binding of HIV to target cells. Inside the cover, the viral core protein p17 is the matrix of the virion and core protein p24 forms a cylindrical inner nucleoid. The nucleoid has within both strands of viral RNA genome (the genetic material of HIV), and the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Ribonucleic acid containing the structural genes gag, pol and env, common to all retroviruses, and several structural genes.