Hepatitis B Virus Core Interacts with the Host Cell Nucleolar Protein, Nucleophosmin 1

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome replication requires the packaging of viral factors (pregenomic RNA and polymerase) as well as host factors, including heat shock proteins and protein kinase C. Previous reports have suggested that there are several unidentified host factors that affect this encapsidation step. In this study, we identified a new host factor, nucleophosmin (1323) that interacts with the HBV core protein 149 (Cp149). We analyzed this factor using NHS-activated sepharose resin and MALDI-TOF MS. Using the BIAcore analysis system, we were also able to deduce that the B23.1 residues 259-294 were required for the interaction between Cp149 and B23.1 in vitro.