HBV RNA encapsidation signal epsilon

The HBV RNA encapsidation signal epsilon (HBV_epsilon) is an element essential for HBV virus replication.

HBV RNA encapsidation signal epsilon
Predicted secondary structure and sequence conservation of HBV_epsilon
Identifiers
Symbol	HBV_epsilon
Alt. Symbols	HBV
Rfam	RF01047
Other data
RNA type	Cis-reg
Domain(s)	Viruses
GO	GO:0019079
SO	SO:0005836
PDB structures	PDBe

It is an RNA structure situated near the 5' end of the HBV pregenomic RNA.^[1] The structure consists of a lower stem, a bulge region, an upper stem and a tri-loop. The structure was determined and refined through enzymatic probing and NMR spectroscopy.^[2] The closure of the tri-loop was not predicted by RNA structure prediction programs but observed in the NMR structure. The regions shown to be critical for encapsidation of the RNA in the viral lifecycle are the bulge, upper stem and tri-loop which interact with the terminal protein domain of the HBV viral polymerase.^[3][4]

See also

• Heron HBV RNA encapsidation signal epsilon
• Duck HBV RNA encapsidation signal epsilon
• Hepatitis B virus PRE alpha
• Hepatitis B virus PRE beta
• Hepatitis B virus PRE 1151–1410