Lane A (left-most bar) shows a vertical bar-graph-like picture with molecular weights shown to the left, and a series of "bands" showing the presence of proteins at various molecular weights. Some bands are faint, others are dark.
Lane B (middle bar) is similar to Lane A, but represents protein analysis of an HIV-infected sample.
Lane C (right-most bar) is also an infected sample like Lane B.
Slide 11 of 24
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To complete the picture here is a protein analysis of the material you saw in the EM picture. This is known as a protein gel electrophoresis. Each horizontal band represents a protein separated from a mixture of proteins by the passage of an electric current through the gel. This separates proteins according to the charge and molecular weight. The numbers are the molecular weight in thousands.
This slide is taken from the US study. The one illustrating the giant sized particles. It was published by a group led by Dr. Julian Bess under the auspices of the National Cancer Institute.
Lane A is the non-infected cell culture. Lanes B and C are the infected cell cultures.
This slide proves a number of things:
1. If B and C are a virus then again it’s not pure because if it were none of what you see A, which is just cells used to grow the virus, should be in Lanes B and C.
2. Apart from the darker bands at the bottom of B and C there is no difference between the three patterns. That’s the point. Although a few of the bands are darker in B and C, because those proteins are present in a higher concentration, they are still present in A, albeit faintly. So the only difference between the virus and the cells used to grow the virus is the amount of proteins. Not the types of proteins.
3. If B and C contain even impure HIV they should also contain all of the proteins said to be present in HIV. But they don’t. Some are not there. There’s no p41. But there is actin in the place where one would expect to find p41, which proves Montagnier right. That p41 is actin. A cellular protein.
4. There’s also a protein where one would expect to find p120. Just above the 116.3 label. It’s not labeled p120 but if this is the p120 protein it’s also present in the non-infected culture. Which does not have a virus. And if it’s not the HIV p120 protein then the virus will be dead because without this protein it cannot get inside cells to replicate.
5. So HIV proteins = cellular proteins and cellular proteins do not make a virus.
We also sought Dr. Bess’s comments on the origin of the HIV proteins.
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