Figure 5.

(A) Bar graph indicates increased expression of the surface transcripts from the wild-type surface constructs (complete preS2/S gene with G-quadruplex containing preS2/S promoter; GTB-surface-WT) as compared to the mutant surface constructs (complete preS2/S gene with preS2/S promoter with mutations disrupting the G-quadruplex; GTB-surface-MUT). The surface transcripts were quantitated using real-time PCR. (B) Bar graph indicates increased expression of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) from the wild-type surface constructs (GTB-surface-WT) as compared to the mutant surface constructs (GTB-surface-MUT). The HBsAg levels were measured from the supernatant of cells transfected with GTB-surface-WT or GTB-surface-MUT using ELISA. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 4 replicates)