The essential region for assembly and particle formation in hepatitis B virus surface antigen produced in yeast cells.
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome carries a HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) gene that can encode a polypeptide of 226 amino acids (aa). This gene can be expressed in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the products can be assembled into 22-nm particles indistinguishable from those recovered from a patient's serum. We constructed a set of deletion derivatives of the HBsAg gene, and examined the particle-forming ability of the resulting polypeptides by expressing the gene in yeast. Elimination of 9 aa from the N terminus had no effect, whereas the elimination of 21-80 aa decreased the ability to form particles, and the particles formed were correspondingly smaller. Elimination of 100 aa that delete the major hydrophobic domain of the molecule abolished the ability to form particles completely. Deletion of 53 aa from the C terminus showed little effect. However, deletions proceeding further toward the center of the molecule rendered the polypeptides unstable.
Araki
K
K
Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Osaka University, Japan.
Shiosaki
K
K
Araki
M
M
Chisaka
O
O
Matsubara
K
K
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D015870:Gene Expression; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics*
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D046911:Macromolecular Substances