Crunching numbers to save lives around the world.
Support mathematical modelling at Burnet and help save lives around the world.
Support mathematical modelling at Burnet and help save lives around the world.
Support mathematical modelling at Burnet and help save lives around the world.
Support mathematical modelling at Burnet and help save lives around the world.
A fraction of the large surface protein (L) of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) is phosphorylated at serine or threonine residues (E. Grgacic & D. Anderson, Journal of Virology 68, 7344-7350, 1994). We now report the identification of phosphorylation sites in DHBV L protein. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have identified serine-118 (S118) as the major phosphorylation site, accepting approximately 64% of the total phosphate groups incorporated in L, and resulting in retarded migration of phosphorylated L in SDS-PAGE. Proline-119 is indispensable for S118 phosphorylation. Mutation of other serine/threonine residues which are followed by prolines (T79, T89, S117 and T155) together with S118 further reduced phosphorylation to around 19% of wild-type. Non-equilibrium pH gel electrophoresis (NEPHGE) and SDS-PAGE of 33P-labelled L protein revealed two phosphorylated L species, while protein with the S118 to alanine mutation was detected as only one labelled species, consistent with multiple phosphorylations in wild-type L. Together, these results demonstrate that serine 118 is the major phosphorylation site for a proline-directed kinase, and that a proportion of L molecules are additionally phosphorylated at one of a number of secondary sites. DHBV mutants encoding L proteins with minimal phosphorylation (alanine mutants) or mimicking constitutive phosphorylation (aspartic acid mutants) remained infectious both in cell culture and in ducks, demonstrating that L phosphorylation may play only a minor role in DHBV replication.