Title |
An N-terminal extension to the hepatitis B virus core protein forms a poorly ordered trimeric spike in assembled virus-like particles
|
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Published in |
Journal of Structural Biology, December 2014
|
DOI | 10.1016/j.jsb.2014.12.006 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Richard McGonigle, Wei Boon Yap, Swee Tin Ong, Derek Gatherer, Saskia E. Bakker, Wen Siang Tan, David Bhella |
Abstract |
Virus-like particles composed of the core antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBcAg) have been shown to be an effective platform for the display of foreign epitopes in vaccine development. Heterologous sequences have been successfully inserted at both amino and carboxy termini as well as internally at the major immunodominant epitope. We used cryogenic electron microscopy (CryoEM) and three-dimensional image reconstruction to investigate the structure of VLPs assembled from an N-terminal extended HBcAg that contained a polyhistidine tag. The insert was seen to form a trimeric spike on the capsid surface that was poorly resolved, most likely owing to it being flexible. We hypothesise that the capacity of N-terminal inserts to form trimers may have application in the development of multivalent vaccines to trimeric antigens. Our analysis also highlights the value of tools for local resolution assessment in studies of partially disordered macromolecular assemblies by cryoEM. |
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Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 50% |
Members of the public | 1 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 56 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 13 | 23% |
Researcher | 9 | 16% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 11% |
Student > Master | 6 | 11% |
Student > Bachelor | 5 | 9% |
Other | 10 | 18% |
Unknown | 8 | 14% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 14 | 25% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 14 | 25% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 8 | 14% |
Engineering | 4 | 7% |
Immunology and Microbiology | 2 | 4% |
Other | 9 | 16% |
Unknown | 6 | 11% |