The C-terminal sequence of the large hepatitis delta antigen is variable but retains the ability to bind clathrin

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a defected RNA virus and requires its encoded large antigen (LDAg) to interact with helper viral proteins (HBsAgs) during assembly. Recently, a study demonstrated a direct binding of the LDAg C-terminus from genotype I HDV to the clathrin heavy chain (CHC), which suggests that this interaction might facilitate HDV assembly. If LDAg binding to clathrin is essential to HDV life cycle, a clathrin box sequence at the C-terminus of LDAg should be conserved across all HDV. However, the C-terminal sequence of LDAg is variable among 43 HDV isolates.

Based on the presence and location of clathrin box at the C-terminus of LDAg from 43 isolates of HDV, we classified them into three groups. Group 1 (13 isolates) and 2 (26 isolates) contain a clathrin box located at amino acids 199–203 and 206–210, respectively, as found in genotype I and genotype II. Group 3 (4 isolates) contains no clathrin box as found in genotype III. CHC binding by three different LDAg (genotype I to III) was then tested by in vivo and in vitro experiments. Transfection of plasmids which encode fusion proteins of EGFP and full-length of LDAg from three genotypes into HuH-7 cells, a human heptoma cell line, was performed. GFP-pull down assays showed that a full-length of CHC was co-precipitated by EGFP-LDI, -LDII and -LDIII but not by EGFP. Further in vitro studies showed a full-length or fragment (amino acids 1 to 107) of CHC can be pull-down by 13-amino-acid peptides of LDAg from three genotypes of HDV.

Both in vivo and in vitro studies showed that CHC can bind to various sequences of LDAg from the three major genotypes of HDV. We therefore suggest that the clathrin-LDAg interaction is essential to the HDV life-cycle and that sequences binding to clathrin are evolutionarily selected, but nonetheless show the diversity across different HDV genotypes.