Determination of pore-lining residues in the hepatitis C virus p7 protein.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chew CF
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2716475 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Determination of pore-lining residues in the hepatitis C virus p7 protein.
Chew Chee Foong CF Vijayan Ranjit R Chang Jason J Zitzmann Nicole N Biggin Philip C PC
Biophysical journal 20090101 2
The p7 protein from hepatitis C virus is critical for the assembly and secretion of infectious virus, making it an attractive drug target. It is thought to be a viroporin with a demonstrated ion channel activity when reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers. Electron microscopy experiments suggest that p7 oligomers coexist as hexamers and heptamers. Proposed models of p7 oligomers assume the N-terminal helix to be the pore lining helix. Here, we demonstrate, via electrophysiology, that Cu(2+) ha ...[more]
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