The hepatitis C virus Core protein is a potent nucleic acid chaperone that directs dimerization of the viral (+) strand RNA in vitro.

ABSTRACT: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important human pathogen causing chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV is an enveloped virus with a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome encoding a single polyprotein that is processed to generate viral proteins. Several hundred molecules of the structural Core protein are thought to coat the genome in the viral particle, as do nucleocapsid (NC) protein molecules in Retroviruses, another class of enveloped viruses containing a positive-sense RNA genome. Retroviral NC proteins also possess nucleic acid chaperone properties that play critical roles in the structural remodelling of the genome during retrovirus replication. This analogy between HCV Core and retroviral NC proteins prompted us to investigate the putative nucl

SUBMITTER: Cristofari G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC419467 | biostudies-literature | 2004

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature