title: A novel human protein is able to interact with hepatitis B virus core deletion mutant but not with the wild-type protein.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus mutants with in-frame deletions in the central part of the core gene are associated with a severe course of infection in long-term immunosuppressed renal transplant recipients. In this study, yeast two-hybrid system was employed to investigate interaction capabilities of two core mutants with deleted 77-93 and 86-93 amino acids. The same mutant and wild-type (WT) protein pairs which form core-like particles inside bacterial cells were able to interact also in two-hybrid system. To find host proteins possibly involved in enhanced pathogenesis of the mutant variants, a human hepatocyte cDNA library was screened for proteins interacting with the mutant but not with the WT core protein. A human protein of unknown function FLJ20850 interacted specifically with the mutant proteins. An attempt to determine interacting regions revealed that FLJ20850 was unable to interact without significant parts of its C- or N-end, and introduced deletion in the central region conferred interaction capability to the WT core protein.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Graiciuno 8, 02241 Vilnius, Lithuania. raimis@ibt.lt
authors.forename: Raimundas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Razanskas
authors.forename: Kestutis
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sasnauskas
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015723:Gene Library; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C486050:ARHGAP10 protein, human; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein