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Narrative
Now let's look at a cleavage enzyme that might play an important role in the treatment of AIDS.

HIV has a vital cleavage enzyme called HIV-1 protease. The protease helps create all the proteins you saw in the virus model and like any enzyme is a protein itself. Active protease has two identical protein molecules called monomers.

The monomers are attracted to each other and to special cleavage sites on the pre-protein. These attractions result in a structure called a dimer.

Flexibility of the monomers can be seen in the flickering green ribbons in this dynamic simulation. This flexibility allows the monomers to dock with each other and with the pre-protein cleavage sites.