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A bacteria-eating virus is the star of a new video that could help researchers learn the secrets of viral infection and thereby develop better gene therapies.

Researchers at Purdue University combined traditional crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy with imaging software to create detailed pictures of a virus called T4. The Purdue scientists also made a video that shows how the virus attaches to a cell surface, infects it and replicates.

The work isn't just visually impressive, it gives researchers insight into the T4 virus that could elucidate the secrets of viral infection and possibly improve gene-therapy techniques, the Purdue researchers said. Their work was published in the Aug. 20 issue of Cell.

Source: Wired News