Phosphatidylserine-Specific Phospholipase A1 is the Critical Bridge for Hepatitis C Virus Assembly

The phosphatidylserine-specific phospholipase A1(PLA1A)is an essential host factor in hepatitis C virus(HCV)assembly.In this study,we mapped the E2,NS2 and NS5A involved in PLA1A interaction to their lumenal domains and membranous parts,through which they form oligomeric protein complexes to participate in HCV assembly.Multiple regions of PLA1A were involved in their interaction and complex formation.Furthermore,the results represented structures with PLA1A and E2 in closer proximity than NS2 and NS5A,and strongly suggest PLA1 A-E2,s physical interaction in cells.Meanwhile,we mapped the NS5A sequence which participated in PLA1A interaction with the C-terminus of domain 1.Interestingly,these amino acids in the sequence are also essential for viral RNA replication.Further experiments revealed that these four proteins interact with each other.Moreover,PLA1A expression levels were elevated in livers from HCV-infected patients.In conclusion,we exposed the structural determinants of PLA1A,E2,NS2 and NS5A proteins which were important for HCV assembly and provided a detailed characterization of PLA1A in HCV assembly.

Heterologous expression,refolding,and characterization of a calcium-independent phospholipase A1 from Streptomyces albidoflavus

Phospholipase A1(PLA_(1))is a member of the hydrolase family with applications in various fields,especially in the food industry.A calcium-independent PLA_(1) from Streptomyces albidoflavus was expressed in E.coli BL21(DE3)in this study.The results indicated that the soluble expression of PLA_(1) was at low level,which was possibly due to the toxicity of PLA_(1) to the host.In contrast,the expression of the enzyme as inclusion bodies exhibited a high-level expression and 0.3 mg inclusion bodies protein could be derived from 1 mL culture medium.Furthermore,the renaturation of PLA_(1) was achieved through a direct dilution method,yielding 29.6 U/mL PLA_(1) activity after 16 h of renaturation at 4℃.For improving the efficiency of the dilution refolding process,a continuous refolding strategy was established,and 155 U/mL PLA_(1) activity was derived from the continuous refolding process.With soybean lecithin as the substrate,the specific activity of purified renatured PLA_(1) was 1380 U/mg and the optimal temperature and pH was found to be 60℃ and 6.5.In addition,the renatured PLA_(1) was observed with better activity towards phosphatidyl inositol,whilst lipase activity was detected when the catalyzing temperature was below 55℃.Overall,this study provides a possible solution to obtain calcium-independent PLA_(1) with high yield by heterologous expression in E.coli and hence to promote its further application in the field of food industry.