Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Structural Biology of Hepatitis B Virus: Form and Function

2016; Annual Reviews; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1146/annurev-virology-110615-042238

2327-0578

Balasubramanian Venkatakrishnan, Adam Zlotnick,

Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology

Hepatitis B virus is one of the smallest human pathogens, encoded by a 3,200-bp genome with only four open reading frames. Yet the virus shows a remarkable diversity in structural features, often with the same proteins adopting several conformations. In part, this is the parsimony of viruses, where a minimal number of proteins perform a wide variety of functions. However, a more important theme is that weak interactions between components as well as components with multiple conformations that have similar stabilities lead to a highly dynamic system. In hepatitis B virus, this is manifested as a virion where the envelope proteins have multiple structures, the envelope-capsid interaction is irregular, and the capsid is a dynamic compartment that actively participates in metabolism of the encapsidated genome and carries regulated signals for intracellular trafficking.