Internal initiation stimulates production of p8 minicore, a member of a newly discovered family of hepatitis C virus core protein isoforms.

ABSTRACT: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) core gene is more conserved at the nucleic acid level than is necessary to preserve the sequence of the core protein, suggesting that it contains information for additional functions. We used a battery of anticore antibodies to test the hypothesis that the core gene directs the synthesis of core protein isoforms. Infectious viruses, replicons, and RNA transcripts expressed a p8 minicore containing the C-terminal portion of the p21 core protein and lacking the N-terminal portion. An interferon resistance mutation, U271A, which creates an AUG at codon 91, upregulated p8 expression in Con1 replicons, suggesting that p8 is produced by an internal initiation event and that 91-AUG is the preferred, but not the required, initiation codon. Synthesis of p8 was independen

SUBMITTER: Eng FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2655593 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature