Constrained evolution of overlapping genes in viral host adaptation: Acquisition of glycosylation motifs in hepadnaviral precore/core genes.

ABSTRACT: Hepadnaviruses use extensively overlapping genes to expand their coding capacity, especially the precore/core genes encode the precore and core proteins with mostly identical sequences but distinct functions. The precore protein of the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) is N-glycosylated, in contrast to the precore of the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) that lacks N-glycosylation. To explore the roles of the N-linked glycosylation sites in precore and core functions, we substituted T77 and T92 in the WHV precore/core N-glycosylation motifs (75NIT77 and 90NDT92) with the corresponding HBV residues (E77 and N92) to eliminate the sequons. Conversely, these N-glycosylation sequons were introduced into the HBV precore/core gene by E77T and N92T substitutions. We found that N-glycosylation increased

SUBMITTER: Hong X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9362955 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature