Figure 3.

Mutations within the transmembrane domain of L2 affect infectivity. (A) Sequence logo of over 300 papillomavirus types showing the predicated TM domain (underlined in red) and the surrounding sequence, numbered according to the sequence of HPV16. (B) TM domain mutants. The top line shows the sequence of wild-type HPV16 L2 beginning at position 42. Mutations are highlighted in red and the TM domain is emboldened. (C–E) The indicated PsVs (normalized for packaged reporter plasmid genomes) were used to infect HeLa cells. Samples were analyzed 48 h.p.i. by flow cytometry for HcRed reporter gene expression. Graphs show percent infectivity, normalized to infectivity of cells infected with wild-type HPV16 PsV (set at 100%), from three or four experiments. Each dot represents a result from an independent experiment.