Dataset Information

Characterization of hepatitis G virus (GB-C virus) particles: evidence for a nucleocapsid and expression of sequences upstream of the E1 protein.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis G virus (HGV or GB-C virus) is a newly described virus that is closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV). Based on sequence analysis and by evaluation of translational initiation codon preferences utilized during in vitro translation, HGV appears to have a truncated or absent core protein at the amino terminus of the HGV polyprotein. Consequently, the biophysical properties of HGV may be very different from those of HCV. To characterize HGV particle types, we evaluated plasma from chronically infected individuals with and without concomitant HCV infection by using sucrose gradient centrifugation, isopycnic banding in cesium chloride, and saline density flotation centrifugation. Similar to HCV, HGV particles included an extremely-low-density virion particle (1.07 to 1.09 g/ml) and a nucleocapsid of approximately 1.18 g/ml. One major difference between the particle types was that HGV was consistently more stable in cesium chloride than HCV. Plasma samples from chronically HGV-infected individuals and controls were assessed by a synthetic peptide-based immunoassay to determine if they contained HGV antibody specific for a conserved region in the coding region upstream of the E1 protein. Chronically HGV-infected individuals contained antibody to the HGV core protein peptide, whereas no binding to a hepatitis A virus peptide control was observed. Competitive inhibition of binding to the HGV peptide confirmed the specificity of the assay. These data indicate that HGV has a nucleocapsid and that at least part of the putative core region of HGV is expressed in vivo.

SUBMITTER: Xiang J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC109717 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Characterization of hepatitis G virus (GB-C virus) particles: evidence for a nucleocapsid and expression of sequences upstream of the E1 protein.

Xiang J J Klinzman D D McLinden J J Schmidt W N WN LaBrecque D R DR Gish R R Stapleton J T JT

Journal of virology 19980401 4

Hepatitis G virus (HGV or GB-C virus) is a newly described virus that is closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV). Based on sequence analysis and by evaluation of translational initiation codon preferences utilized during in vitro translation, HGV appears to have a truncated or absent core protein at the amino terminus of the HGV polyprotein. Consequently, the biophysical properties of HGV may be very different from those of HCV. To characterize HGV particle types, we evaluated plasma from chr ...[more]

PMID: 9525592

Similar Datasets

Project description:Hepatitis C virus (HCV) only infects humans and chimpanzees, while GB virus B (GBV-B), another hepatotropic hepacivirus, infects small New World primates (tamarins and marmosets). In an effort to develop an immunocompetent small primate model for HCV infection to study HCV pathogenesis and vaccine approaches, we investigated the HCV life cycle step(s) that may be restricted in small primate hepatocytes. First, we found that replication-competent, genome-length chimeric HCV RNAs encoding GBV-B structural proteins in place of equivalent HCV sequences designed to allow entry into simian hepatocytes failed to induce viremia in tamarins following intrahepatic inoculation, nor did they lead to progeny virus in permissive, transfected human Huh7.5 hepatoma cells upon serial passage. This likely reflected the disruption of interactions between distantly related structural and nonstructural proteins that are essential for virion production, whereas such cross talk could be restored in similarly designed HCV intergenotypic recombinants via adaptive mutations in NS3 protease or helicase domains. Next, HCV entry into small primate hepatocytes was examined directly using HCV-pseudotyped retroviral particles (HCV-pp). HCV-pp efficiently infected tamarin hepatic cell lines and primary marmoset hepatocyte cultures through the use of the simian CD81 ortholog as a coreceptor, indicating that HCV entry is not restricted in small New World primate hepatocytes. Furthermore, we observed genomic replication and modest virus secretion following infection of primary marmoset hepatocyte cultures with a highly cell culture-adapted HCV strain. Thus, HCV can successfully complete its life cycle in primary simian hepatocytes, suggesting the possibility of adapting some HCV strains to small primate hosts.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important human pathogen that infects over 150 million individuals worldwide and leads to chronic liver disease. The lack of a small animal model for this infection impedes the development of a preventive vaccine and pathogenesis studies. In seeking to establish a small primate model for HCV, we first attempted to generate recombinants between HCV and GB virus B (GBV-B), a hepacivirus that infects small New World primates (tamarins and marmosets). This approach revealed that the genetic distance between these hepaciviruses likely prevented virus morphogenesis. We next showed that HCV pseudoparticles were able to infect tamarin or marmoset hepatocytes efficiently, demonstrating that there was no restriction in HCV entry into these simian cells. Furthermore, we found that a highly cell culture-adapted HCV strain was able to achieve a complete viral cycle in primary marmoset hepatocyte cultures, providing a promising basis for further HCV adaptation to small primate hosts.

Dataset Information

Characterization of hepatitis G virus (GB-C virus) particles: evidence for a nucleocapsid and expression of sequences upstream of the E1 protein.

Publications

Characterization of hepatitis G virus (GB-C virus) particles: evidence for a nucleocapsid and expression of sequences upstream of the E1 protein.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets