Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) nucleoprotein complexes were isolated from nuclei of the human hepatoblastoma cell line HepG2.2.15. Under conditions of physiological ionic strength, the complexes sedimented at a rate corresponding to about 82 S. They contained viral DNA, histone, and nonhistone proteins. For DNA a circular, covalently closed structure was shown both by CsCl gradient centrifugation and electron microscopy. Spread preparations revealed the typical “beads-on-a-string” appearance of nucleosomally organized DNA. The average number of nucleosomes was 18, resulting in a biochemical repeat unit of HBV chromatin of approximately 180 base pairs of DNA. This value was confirmed by experiments analyzing the structure of the HBV chromatin by the use of micrococcal nuclease. Electron microscopy demonstrated that exposure to high ionic strength conditions resulted in removal of nucleosomes from the complexes, but also revealed proteinaceous structures remaining bound to viral DNA molecules. The nature of these residual proteins is discussed. Since native nucleoprotein complexes could be precipitated with HBV-core antibodies, core protein appeared to be one of the nonhistone proteins.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Oudet P., Germond J.E., Bellard M., Spadafora C., and Chambon P., Phil Trans R Soc Lond B283 241–258, 1978.
Simpson R.T., Prog Nucleic Acids Res Mol Biol40 143–184, 1991.
Felsenfield G., Nature355 219–224, 1992.
Green M.H., Miller H.I., and Hendler S., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA68 1032–1036, 1971.
White M. and Eason R., J Virol8 363–371, 1971.
Cremisi C., Pignatti P.F., Croissant O., and Yaniv M., J Virol17 204–211, 1976.
Favre M., Breitburd F., Croissant O., and Orth G., J Virol21 1205–1209, 1977.
Rösl F., Waldeck W., Zentgraf H., and Sauer G., J Virol58 500–507, 1986.
Germond J.E., Hirt B., Oudet P., Gross-Bellard M., and Chambon P., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA72 1843–1847, 1975.
Keller W., Müller U., Eicken I., Wendel I., and Zentgraf H., Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol42 227–244, 1978.
Müller U., Zentgraf H., Eicken I., and Keller W., Science201 406–415, 1978.
Mirza M.A., and Weber J., Biochim Biophys Acta696 72–86, 1982.
Corden J., Engelking H.M., and Pearson G.D., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA73 401–404, 1976.
Kedinger C., Brison O., Perrin F., and Wilhelm J., J Virol26 364–379, 1978.
Leinbach S.S. and Summers W.C., J Gen Virol51 45–59, 1980.
Müller U., Schröder C.H., Zentgraf H., and Franke W.W., Eur J Cell Biol23 197–203, 1980.
Pignatti P.F. and Cassi E., J Virol36 816–828, 1980.
Ganem D., Rev Infect Dis4 1026–1047, 1982.
Szmuness W., Prog Med Virol24 40–69, 1978.
Beasley R.P., Cancer61 1942–1956, 1988.
Ganem D. and Varmus H.E., Ann Rev Biochem56 651–693, 1987.
Bosch V., Bartenschlager R., Radziwill G., and Schaller H., Virology166 475–485, 1988.
Tiollais P., Pourcel C., and DeJean A., Nature317 489–495, 1985.
Gerlich W.H. and Robinson W.S., Cell21 801–809, 1980.
Lien J.-M., Aldrich C.E., and Mason W.S., J Virol57 229–236, 1985.
Seeger C. and Maragos J., J Virol63 1907–1925, 1989.
Delius H., Gough M.N., Cameron C.H., and Murray K., J Virol47 337–343, 1983.
Will H., Reiser W., Weimer T., Pfaff E., Büscher M., Spregler R., Cattaneo R., and Schaller H., J Virol61 904–911, 1987.
Ganem D. and Varmus H.E., Ann Rev Biochem56 651–693, 1987.
Cattaneo R., Will H., and Schaller H., EMBO J3 2191–2196, 1984.
Ou J.-H., Bao H., Shili C., and Tahara S.M., J Virol64 4578–4581, 1990.
Farza H., Hadchouel M., Scotto J., Tiollais P., Babinet C., and Pourcel C., J Virol62 4144–4152, 1988.
Suzuki T., Masui N., Kajino K., Saito I., and Miyamura T., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA86 8422–8426, 1989.
Saito I., Oya Y., and Shimojo H., J Virol58 554–560, 1986.
Siddiqui A., Jameel S., and Mapoles J., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA84 2513–2517, 1987.
Miller R.H. and Robinson W.S., Virology137 390–399, 1984.
Sells M.A., Chen M.-L., and Acs G., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA84 1005–1009, 1987.
Sells M.A., Zelent A.Z., Shvartsman M., and Acs, G., J Virol62 2836–2844, 1988.
Gerber M.A., Sells M.A., Chen M.-L., Thung S.N., Tabibzadeh S.S., Hood A., and Acs G., Lab Invest59 173–180, 1988.
Knowles B., Howe C.C., and Aden D.P., Science209 497–499, 1980.
Aden D.P., Fogel A., Plotkin S., Damjanov I., and Knowles B., Nature282 615–616, 1979.
Su R.T. and DePamphilis M.L., J Virol28 53–65, 1978.
Waldeck W., Spaere U., Mastromei G., Eliasson R., and Reichard P., J Mol Biol135 675–689, 1979.
Sinsheimer R.L., J Mol Biol1 43, 1959.
Marvin D.A. and Hoffmann-Berling G., Nature197 517–518, 1963.
Fraenkel-Conrat H.,The Viruses, Catalogue, Characterisation, and Classification. Plenum Press, New York, 1971, p. 209.
Horwich A.L., Furtak K., Pugh J., and Summers J., J Virol64 642–650, 1990.
Laemmli U.K., Nature227 680–685, 1970.
Thomas J.O. and Kornberg R.D., J Mol Biol149 709–733, 1975.
Switzer R.C., Merril C.R., and Shifrin S., Anal Biochem98 231–237, 1979.
Khyse-Andersen J., J Biochem Biophys Methods10 203–209, 1984.
McDonell M.W., Simon M.N., and Studier F.W., J Mol Biol110 119–146, 1977.
Southern E.M., J Mol Biol98 503–517, 1975.
Loncarevic I.F., Schranz P., Zentgraf H., Liang X.-H., Herrmann G., Tang Z.-Y., and Schroeder C.H., Virology174 158–168, 1990.
Lawson G.M., Tsai M.J., and O'Mally B.W., Biochemistry19 4403–4411, 1980.
Miller O.L., and Beatty B.R., Science164 955–957, 1969.
Bock C.-T. and Zentgraf H., Chromosoma102 249–252, 1993.
Vollenweider H.J., Sogo J.M., and Koller T., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA72 83–91, 1975.
Scheer U. and Zentgraf H., Chromosoma69 243–254, 1978.
Tuttleman J., Pourcel C., and Summers J., Cell47 451–460, 1986.
Nassal M., J Virol66 4107–4116, 1992.
Studier F.W., J Mol Biol11 373–390, 1965.
Simon R.H. and Felsenfeld G., Nucleic Acids Res6 689–696, 1979.
Morris R., Cell9 627–632, 1976.
Noll M. and Kornberg R.D., J Mol Biol109 393–396, 1977.
Zentgraf H., Trendelenburg M.F., Spring H., Scheer U., Franke W.W., Müller U., Drury K.C., and Rungger D., Exp Cell Res122 363–375, 1979.
Hatton T., Zhou S., and Standring D.N., J Virol66 5232–5241, 1992.
Stüber D. and Bujard H., Mol Gen Genet154 299–303, 1977.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bock, CT., Schranz, P., Schröder, C.H. et al. Hepatitis B virus genome is organized into nucleosomes in the nucleus of the infected cell. Virus Genes 8, 215–229 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01703079
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01703079