The Hepatitis B Virus Pres1 Domain Hijacks Host Trafficking Proteins by Motif Mimicry.
Jurgens, M.C., Voros, J., Rautureau, G.J.P., Shepherd, D.A., Pye, V.E., Muldoon, J., Johnson, C.M., Ashcroft, A.E., Freund, S.M.V., Ferguson, N.(2013) Nat Chem Biol 9: 540
- PubMed: 23851574 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1294
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2YMT, 3ZHF, 4BCX - PubMed Abstract: 
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an infectious, potentially lethal human pathogen. However, there are no effective therapies for chronic HBV infections. Antiviral development is hampered by the lack of high-resolution structures for essential HBV protein-protein interactions. The interaction between preS1, an HBV surface-protein domain, and its human binding partner, γ2-adaptin, subverts the membrane-trafficking apparatus to mediate virion export. This interaction is a putative drug target. We report here atomic-resolution descriptions of the binding thermodynamics and structural biology of the interaction between preS1 and the EAR domain of γ2-adaptin. NMR, protein engineering, X-ray crystallography and MS showed that preS1 contains multiple γ2-EAR-binding motifs that mimic the membrane-trafficking motifs (and binding modes) of host proteins. These motifs localize together to a relatively rigid, functionally important region of preS1, an intrinsically disordered protein. The preS1-γ2-EAR interaction was relatively weak and efficiently outcompeted by a synthetic peptide. Our data provide the structural road map for developing peptidomimetic antivirals targeting the γ2-EAR-preS1 interaction.
Organizational Affiliation: 
1] School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. [2].