Extended Data Fig. 7: Quantification of mature HIV-1 CA assembly and VLP diameter at pH 6.

a, Example of CA assembly in the absence of IP₆ or mellitic acid. b, c, Representative negative-stain electron microscopy images of assemblies induced by IP₆ (b) and mellitic acid (c). Scale bars, 200 nm. Tubes (T), cones (C), and other (O) morphologies are marked by coloured arrowheads. a–c, Repeated four times with similar results. d, Number of assembled CA tubes (blue), cones (orange) and other (green) per 55 μm² at increasing IP₆ concentrations. Mean shown above plots, n = 5. e, Number of assembled tubes (blue), cones (orange) and other (green) per 55 μm² at increasing mellitic acid concentrations. Mean shown above and n below box plots. f, Representative images of mature VLPs assembled with IP₅ and IP₆ at 50 mM NaCl. Scale bars, 100 nm. Repeated three times with similar results. g, Number of CA VLPs per 10 µm² without and with IP₃, IP₄, IP₅, and IP₆. Mean shown above, n = 5. d, e, g, Centre lines show medians; box limits indicate 25th and 75th percentiles as determined by R software; whiskers extend to minimum and maximum values.