Crystallizing Hepatitis B Virus Reverse Transcriptase

结晶乙型肝炎病毒反转录酶

• 批准号: 6851919
• 负责人: Hwai-Chen Guo
• 金额: $ 20.19万
• 依托单位: BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-04-01 至 2007-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6851919
• 关键词: RNA directed DNA polymerase; SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; X ray crystallography; affinity chromatography; crystallization; hepatitis B virus group; protein protein interaction; protein purification; protein structure function; recombinant proteins; ribonucleoproteins; structural biology; tissue /cell culture; transcription factor; transfection /expression vector; virus protein; virus replication

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV is a member of the hepadnavirus group, double-stranded DNA viruses. It replicates through an RNA intermediate (the pregenomic RNA, or pgRNA) by a novel reverse transcription pathway. To carry out this unusual replication cycle, all hepadnaviruses encode a multi-functional reverse transcriptase (RT). A critical early step in HBV replication is the assembly of a specific ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex between the viral reverse transcriptase (RT) and a specific RNA signal called Epsilon, located at the 5' end of the pgRNA. Using epsilon RNA as a template, the RT is able to initiate DNA synthesis de novo (without the need of any nucleic acid primers), using itself as a protein primer (the protein priming reaction). The RT-epsilon complex also acts as a packaging signal to initiate assembly of the viral nucleocapsids, leading to the selective incorporation of both the RT and the pgRNA into the locale of reverse transcription. Therefore, RT functions, in particular, its interaction with the Epsilon RNA and its protein priming activity, are critical for HBV assembly and replication and as such, represent excellent targets to develop specific anti-HBV agents. Our recent success in expressing and purifying active, recombinant HBV RT proteins has brought about the exciting possibility that sufficient amounts of RT proteins could now be purified for high-resolution structural studies using X-ray crystallography. Therefore, it is proposed in this exploratory project to apply the technology of X-ray crystallography to study the RT functions. Sufficient amounts of RT proteins, and the RT-epsilon complex will be purified for crystallization, with the long-term objective of obtaining their high-resolution structures. In addition, a novel domain of the RT protein, called TP domain, will be purified and crystallized. To accomplish these goals, the current bacterial expression system will be scaled up and if necessary, eukaryotic expression systems will be adopted. Together with other biochemical studies, the high-resolution structure studies proposed here will greatly enhance our understanding of the mechanisms of RT-epsilon interaction and protein priming. Furthermore, the anticipated results from biochemical and structural studies will facilitate structure-based rational design of novel anti-HBV agents targeting at RT-epsilon interaction and protein priming, which, in turn, will help to prevent the development of HBV-induced liver cancer and other fatal diseases.

描述(申请人提供)：乙肝病毒(乙肝病毒)仍然是慢性肝炎、肝硬变和肝细胞癌的主要原因。乙肝病毒是一种双链DNA病毒，属于庚型核糖核酸病毒。它通过一种新的逆转录途径，通过RNA中间体(前基因组RNA，或pgRNA)进行复制。为了执行这一不寻常的复制周期，所有的庚型核糖核酸病毒都编码一种多功能逆转录酶(RT)。病毒复制的关键早期步骤是在病毒逆转录酶(RT)和位于pgRNA 5‘端的称为Epsilon的特定RNA信号之间组装特定的核糖核蛋白(RNP)复合体。以epsilon RNA为模板，RT能够启动DNA从头合成(不需要任何核酸引物)，将自身作为蛋白质引物(蛋白质引发反应)。RT-epsilon复合体也作为包装信号启动病毒核衣壳的组装，导致RT和pgRNA选择性地掺入逆转录区域。因此，RT功能，特别是它与Epsilon RNA的相互作用及其蛋白启动活性，对乙肝病毒的组装和复制至关重要，因此是开发特定抗乙肝药物的极佳靶点。我们最近成功地表达和纯化了活性的重组HBVRT蛋白，这带来了一种令人兴奋的可能性，即现在可以纯化足够数量的RT蛋白，用于使用X射线结晶学进行高分辨率结构研究。因此，在这个探索性项目中，提出了应用X射线结晶学技术来研究RT函数。足够数量的RT蛋白质和RT-epsilon复合体将被提纯用于结晶，长期目标是获得其高分辨率结构。此外，RT蛋白的一个新结构域，称为TP结构域，将被纯化和结晶。为了实现这些目标，将扩大现有的细菌表达系统，如有必要，将采用真核表达系统。与其他生化研究一起，本文提出的高分辨结构研究将极大地加深我们对RT-epsilon相互作用和蛋白质启动机制的理解。此外，生物化学和结构研究的预期结果将有助于基于结构的合理设计针对RT-epsilon相互作用和蛋白质启动的新型抗乙肝药物，从而有助于防止乙肝病毒诱导的肝癌和其他致命疾病的发展。