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Analysis of Group IV Viral SSHHPS Using In Vitro and In Silico Methods
Published on: December 21, 2019
Bioinformatic analysis of the hepadnavirus e-antigen and its precursor identifies remarkable sequence conservation in
Peter Revill1, Lilly Yuen, Renae Walsh
1Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, North Melbourne, Australia. Peter.Revill@mh.org.au
Abstract:
The hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) is a non-particulate secretory protein expressed by all viruses within the family Hepadnaviridae. It is not essential for viral assembly or replication but is important for establishment of persistent infection in vivo. Although the exact mechanism(s) by which the HBeAg manifests chronicity are unclear, the HBeAg elicits both humoral and cell-mediated immunity, down-regulates the innate immune response to infection, as well as functioning as a T cell tolerogen and regulating the immune response to the intracellular nucleocapsid. A bioinformatics approach was used to show that the HBeAg and precursory genetic codes share remarkable sequence conservation in all mammalian-infecting hepadnaviruses, irrespective of host, genotype, or geographic origin. Whilst much of this sequence conservation was within key immunomodulatory epitopes, highest conservation was observed at the unique HBeAg N-terminus, suggesting this sequence in particular may play an important role in HBeAg function.
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