Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important human pathogen that affects ∼100 million people worldwide. Its RNA genome codes for a polyprotein, which is cleaved by viral and cellular proteases to produce at least 10 mature viral protein products. We report here the discovery of a novel HCV protein synthesized by ribosomal frameshift. This protein, which we named the F protein, is synthesized from the initiation codon of the polyprotein sequence followed by ribosomal frameshift into the -2/+1 reading frame. This ribosomal frameshift requires only codons 8-14 of the core protein-coding sequence, and the shift junction is located at or near codon 11. An F protein analog synthesized in vitro reacted with the sera of HCV patients but not with the sera of hepatitis B patients, indicating the expression of the F protein during natural HCV infection. This unexpected finding may open new avenues for the development of anti-HCV drugs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 3840-3848 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | EMBO Journal |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 14 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 16 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- HCV F protein
- HCV core protein
- Hepatitis C virus
- Ribosomal frameshift
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Molecular Biology
- General Neuroscience