Paper Citing NAMD - Abstract
Saint, Nathalie; Montserret, Roland; Chipot, Christophe; Penin, Francois
Structural and Functional Analysis of the HCV p7 Protein
Hepatitis C: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition, 510:125-143, 2009
The p7 membrane polypeptide from HCV is essential for virus infection. It exhibits ion-channel activity reported to be specifically blocked by various Compounds. These properties make p7 an attractive candidate target for antiviral intervention to combat viral hepatitis C infection. In this context, in vitro functional analyses of isolated p7 Coupled to structural characterization are critical for further understanding of the molecular mechanisms of p7 ion-channel activity and for the development of new antiviral drugs. We present here in vitro assays designed to purify synthetic p7 by RP-HPLC, to investigate its ion-channel properties by means of planar lipid-bilayer as says and patch-clamp recordings after reconstitution into liposomes, and to analyze its structural features by circular dichroism (CD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and molecular dynamics (MD).
