Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with chronic liver disease and currently affects about 3% of the world population. Although much has been learned about the function of individual viral proteins, the role of the HCV p7 protein in virus replication is not known. Recent data, however, s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2007-07-01
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| Series: | PLoS Pathogens |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1924870?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819037927087276032 |
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| author | Eike Steinmann Francois Penin Stephanie Kallis Arvind H Patel Ralf Bartenschlager Thomas Pietschmann |
| author_facet | Eike Steinmann Francois Penin Stephanie Kallis Arvind H Patel Ralf Bartenschlager Thomas Pietschmann |
| author_sort | Eike Steinmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with chronic liver disease and currently affects about 3% of the world population. Although much has been learned about the function of individual viral proteins, the role of the HCV p7 protein in virus replication is not known. Recent data, however, suggest that it forms ion channels that may be targeted by antiviral compounds. Moreover, this protein was shown to be essential for infectivity in chimpanzee. Employing the novel HCV infection system and using a genetic approach to investigate the function of p7 in the viral replication cycle, we find that this protein is essential for efficient assembly and release of infectious virions across divergent virus strains. We show that p7 promotes virus particle production in a genotype-specific manner most likely due to interactions with other viral factors. Virus entry, on the other hand, is largely independent of p7, as the specific infectivity of released virions with a defect in p7 was not affected. Together, these observations indicate that p7 is primarily involved in the late phase of the HCV replication cycle. Finally, we note that p7 variants from different isolates deviate substantially in their capacity to promote virus production, suggesting that p7 is an important virulence factor that may modulate fitness and in turn virus persistence and pathogenesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:29:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d78e46f6c1334b4eb8974a87fc6b4da1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1553-7366 1553-7374 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T08:29:11Z |
| publishDate | 2007-07-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Pathogens |
| spelling | doaj.art-d78e46f6c1334b4eb8974a87fc6b4da12022-12-21T19:10:15ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742007-07-0137e10310.1371/journal.ppat.0030103Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions.Eike SteinmannFrancois PeninStephanie KallisArvind H PatelRalf BartenschlagerThomas PietschmannHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with chronic liver disease and currently affects about 3% of the world population. Although much has been learned about the function of individual viral proteins, the role of the HCV p7 protein in virus replication is not known. Recent data, however, suggest that it forms ion channels that may be targeted by antiviral compounds. Moreover, this protein was shown to be essential for infectivity in chimpanzee. Employing the novel HCV infection system and using a genetic approach to investigate the function of p7 in the viral replication cycle, we find that this protein is essential for efficient assembly and release of infectious virions across divergent virus strains. We show that p7 promotes virus particle production in a genotype-specific manner most likely due to interactions with other viral factors. Virus entry, on the other hand, is largely independent of p7, as the specific infectivity of released virions with a defect in p7 was not affected. Together, these observations indicate that p7 is primarily involved in the late phase of the HCV replication cycle. Finally, we note that p7 variants from different isolates deviate substantially in their capacity to promote virus production, suggesting that p7 is an important virulence factor that may modulate fitness and in turn virus persistence and pathogenesis.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1924870?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Eike Steinmann Francois Penin Stephanie Kallis Arvind H Patel Ralf Bartenschlager Thomas Pietschmann Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. PLoS Pathogens |
| title | Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. |
| title_full | Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. |
| title_fullStr | Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. |
| title_short | Hepatitis C virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions. |
| title_sort | hepatitis c virus p7 protein is crucial for assembly and release of infectious virions |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1924870?pdf=render |
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