title: The hepatitis E virus capsid C-terminal region is essential for the viral life cycle: implication for viral genome encapsidation and particle stabilization.
abstract: Although the C-terminal 52 amino acids (C52aa) of hepatitis E virus (HEV) capsid are not essential for morphology, the C52aa-encoding region is required for replication. Transfection of a C52aa knockdown mutant showed transient growth, and the earliest population included a majority of noninfectious (possibly empty) particles and a minority of infectious particles with C-terminal capsid degradation. Finally, the complete revertant was generated reproducibly. C52aa is essential for the viral life cycle, promoting accurate encapsidation and stabilizing encapsidated particles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shiota
authors.forename: Tian-Cheng
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshizaki
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Takaji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakita
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishii
mesh_terms: D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral