Protein Science
Protein Science
4 years ago

A Molecular Breadboard: Removal and Replacement of Subunits in an Hepatitis B Virus Capsid

Nicholas Brunk, Stephen C Jacobson, Panagiotis Kondylis, Elizabeth Pierson, David Keifer, Daniel G Haywood, Martin F Jarrold, Lye Siang Lee, Adam Zlotnick, Joseph Che-Yen Wang
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein is a model system for studying assembly and disassembly of icosahedral structures. Controlling disassembly will allow re-engineering the 120 subunit HBV capsid, making it a molecular breadboard. We examined removal of subunits from partially crosslinked capsids to form stable incomplete particles. To characterize incomplete capsids, we used two single molecule techniques, resistive-pulse sensing and charge detection mass spectrometry. We expected to find a binomial distribution of capsid fragments. Instead, we found a preponderance of 3 MDa complexes (90 subunits) and no fragments smaller than 3 MDa. We also found 90-mers in the disassembly of uncrosslinked HBV capsids. 90-mers seem to be a common pause point in disassembly reactions. Partly explaining this result, graph theory simulations have showed a threshold for capsid stability between 80 and 90 subunits. To test a molecular breadboard concept, we showed that missing subunits could be refilled resulting in chimeric, 120 subunit particles. This result may be a means of assembling unique capsids with functional decorations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/pro.3265

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