Steps in infection (IMAGE)

Princeton University

Steps in infection

Caption

Researchers at Princeton have dissected the steps taken by cellular proteins to convert Hepatitis B virus (HBV) relaxed circular DNA (rcDNA) into closed circular DNA (cccDNA), a process that takes place in the nuclei of infected cells and is critical to the establishment of chronic HBV infection. The repair steps of the plus strand (upper panel) and the minus strand (lower panel) are shown. A viral protein called Pol is linked to the minus strand, while an RNA primer (red line) is linked to the plus strand.

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Image by Lei Wei, Princeton University

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