FIG. 4.

Amino acid residues72 to 91 in the core protein are involved in oligomerization of the core protein and interaction with the E1 protein. (A) cDNAs used for expression. CoreΔ72-91 is an HCV core protein carrying a deletion of amino acid residues 72 to 91. (B, left) FLAG-E1-HA was coexpressed in 293T cells with either a wild-type core or CoreΔ72-91, and the interaction was analyzed by immunoprecipitation in the presence of tRNA. The asterisks indicate nonspecific bands. (Right) Oligomerization of a wild-type core or CoreΔ72-91 in the presence of tRNA. Wild-type core protein was self-oligomerized, but CoreΔ72-91 was not.