Woodchuck hepatitis virus X protein is required for viral infection in vivo.

摘要: The X gene of the mammalian hepadnaviruses is believed to encode a protein 17 kDa which has been shown transactivate wide range viral and cellular promoters. necessity for expression during life cycle in vivo recently suggested (H.-S. Chen, S. Kaneko, R. Girones, W. Anderson, E. Hornbuckle, B. C. Tennant, P. J. Cote, L. Gerin, H. Purcell, Miller, Virol. 67:1218-1226, 1993). We have independently constructed two variants woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) with mutations coding region. Transient transfection different hepatoma cell lines showed that these WHV mutants were competent replication vitro. To determine whether was required vivo, we injected mutant wild-type genomes into livers susceptible woodchucks. While infectious all animals examined, did not initiate infection These results indicate plays major role vivo.