HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hourioux, C. Articles by Roingeard, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hourioux, C. Articles by Roingeard, P. Agricola Articles by Hourioux, C. Articles by Roingeard, P.

DNA-containing and empty hepatitis B virus core particles bind similarly to envelope protein domains

Laboratoires de Biologie Cellulaire et Virologie, EA 2639 Analyse Structurale des Antigènes, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Fédératif de Recherche Transposons et Virus, Université François Rabelais, 2 bis Boulevard Tonnellé, F-37032 Tours Cedex, France¹
Laboratoire de Virologie Moléculaire, EA 2637 Processus Infectieux et Tumoraux, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques ‘Philippe Maupas’, Institut Fédératif de Recherche Transposons et Virus, Université François Rabelais, Tours, France²

Author for correspondence: Philippe Roingeard. Fax +33 2 47 36 60 90. e-mail roingeard{at}med.univ-tours.fr

DNA synthesis within the hepatitis B virus (HBV) nucleocapsid appears to be coupled to nucleocapsid envelopment. The nature of the envelopment signal is unknown, but is thought to involve a conformational change at the surface of the capsid that facilitates interaction with HBV envelope proteins. In binding assays in vitro, it was found that empty HBV core particles bound synthetic peptides corresponding to HBV envelope protein domains with the same affinity as did HBV DNA-containing core particles. This suggests that the selection of replication-competent nucleocapsids for envelopment is not related to the capacity of DNA-containing core particles to bind specifically to HBV envelope proteins, and that there must be an alternative mechanism.