Protein-protein interactions: Modeling the hepatitis C virus ion channel p7

George Patargias, Nicole Zitzmann, Raymond Dwek, Wolfgang B. Fischer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

93 Scopus citations

Abstract

The p7 protein is a small ion-channel-forming membrane polypeptide encoded by the hepatitis C virus which consists of two transmembrane α-helices, TM1 and TM2, and can be blocked by long-alkyl-chain iminosugar derivatives. The length of TM1 and TM2 was estimated by employing different secondary structure prediction algorithms and is proposed to span from Ala-10 to Leu-32 for TM1 and from Trp-36 to Pro-58 for TM2. A configurational search protocol based on simulated annealing combined with short restrained molecular dynamics simulations is used in addition to protein-protein clocking to investigate the packing of TM1/TM2. Full p7 oligomeric bundles were generated, and in the most plausible models serines and threonines are facing the hydrophilic pore. In these models, His-17 would be a pore-facing residue, suggesting that p7 may be sensitive to pH in respect to its function.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)648-655
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Medicinal Chemistry
Volume49
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 26 Jan 2006

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Protein-protein interactions: Modeling the hepatitis C virus ion channel p7'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this