A group of video gamers unraveled the 3-D shape of an enzyme critical to the function of the human immunodeficiency virus. Although the enzyme had defied research efforts for years, scientists will now be able to use that information to advance HIV research.

When the protein, known as a protease, stumped researchers attempting to map its structure at U. Washington, the research team tried a different approach, according to a Sept. 19 article from Fox News.

Foldit, a university program that turns science problems into computer games, gives players the task of visualizing items three-dimensionally. Within three weeks, the players had created an accurate model of the enzyme.

“These features provide opportunities for the design of antiretroviral drugs, including anti-HIV drugs,” according to the study.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Scott Bryan said HIV can be contracted from unprotected sex or the sharing of needles or syringes. It can also pass from mother to child during pregnancy or child birth.

Enzymes are “proteins that catalyze reactions,” said Claudio Verani, a chemistry professor at Wayne State U. They are important to the virus because they speed up certain chemical reactions.

Dr. Robert Lisak, chair of neurology at the Wayne State School of Medicine, said the reason gamers could solve the enzyme puzzle faster than the average person had to do with a difference in the “interactions between the parts of the brain.”

Verani likened the power of the collaborative human brain to a supercomputer. Unlike computers, he said, people also have the ability to ask “what if” questions. This is especially useful when trying to work out a combination of amino acids that corresponds to the HIV enzyme.

“Computers can only have ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers, and people can have ‘yes, no (or) maybe’ answers,” he said.

This different way of thinking and analyzing may prove useful in future research projects.

The project is “believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem,” according to a Sept. 19 Yahoo! Games article.

Both the gamers and scientists were credited as authors of the study, which was published in the scientific journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, according to the article.

Foldit continues to be maintained by U. Washington, and is open to the public. The website banner’s caption reads “Solve Puzzles for Science.”