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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

A Quantitative Dot Blot Assay for AAV Titration and Its Use for Functional Assessment of the Adeno-associated Virus Assembly-activating Proteins
Published on: June 12, 2018
The Assembly-Activating Protein Promotes Stability and Interactions between AAV's Viral Proteins to Nucleate Capsid
Anna C Maurer1, Simon Pacouret2, Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz1
1Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Ocular Genomics Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Abstract:
The adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector is a preferred delivery platform for in vivo gene therapy. Natural and engineered variations of the AAV capsid affect a plurality of phenotypes relevant to gene therapy, including vector production and host tropism. Fundamental to these aspects is the mechanism of AAV capsid assembly. Here, the role of the viral co-factor assembly-activating protein (AAP) was evaluated in 12 naturally occurring AAVs and 9 putative ancestral capsid intermediates. The results demonstrate increased capsid protein stability and VP-VP interactions in the presence of AAP. The capsid's dependence on AAP can be partly overcome by strengthening interactions between monomers within the assembly, as illustrated by the transfer of a minimal motif defined by a phenotype-to-phylogeny mapping method. These findings suggest that the emergence of AAP within the Dependovirus genus relaxes structural constraints on AAV assembly in favor of increasing the degrees of freedom for the capsid to evolve.
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