title: Normal phosphorylation of duck hepatitis B virus L protein is dispensable for infectivity.
abstract: A fraction of the large surface protein (L) of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) is phosphorylated at serine or threonine residues (E. Grgacic & D. Anderson, Journal of Virology 68, 7344-7350, 1994). We now report the identification of phosphorylation sites in DHBV L protein. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have identified serine-118 (S118) as the major phosphorylation site, accepting approximately 64% of the total phosphate groups incorporated in L, and resulting in retarded migration of phosphorylated L in SDS-PAGE. Proline-119 is indispensable for S118 phosphorylation. Mutation of other serine/threonine residues which are followed by prolines (T79, T89, S117 and T155) together with S118 further reduced phosphorylation to around 19% of wild-type. Non-equilibrium pH gel electrophoresis (NEPHGE) and SDS-PAGE of 33P-labelled L protein revealed two phosphorylated L species, while protein with the S118 to alanine mutation was detected as only one labelled species, consistent with multiple phosphorylations in wild-type L. Together, these results demonstrate that serine 118 is the major phosphorylation site for a proline-directed kinase, and that a proportion of L molecules are additionally phosphorylated at one of a number of secondary sites. DHBV mutants encoding L proteins with minimal phosphorylation (alanine mutants) or mimicking constitutive phosphorylation (aspartic acid mutants) remained infectious both in cell culture and in ducks, demonstrating that L phosphorylation may play only a minor role in DHBV replication.
authors.affiliation: Hepatitis Research Unit, Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Fairfield, Australia.
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Grgacic
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Gazina
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Snooks
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004372:Ducks / Q000821:virology; D015611:Hepatitis B Virus, Duck / Q000502:physiology*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017354:Point Mutation; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C096362:L protein, hepatitis B virus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins