A Yeast‐Two Hybrid Screen Against HPV16 Capsid Proteins Indicates Dynactin 6 is a Potential Cellular Factor Involved in HPV16 Infection

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) infect genital and mucosal epithelium and include strains carrying different levels of risk for the host upon infection, including high‐risk strains that are potentially oncogenic such as HPV16. Little is known about the molecular events of HPV host cell invasion. HPV16 particles consist of two structural proteins: the major capsid protein L1 and the minor capsid protein L2. The goal of this project is to identify host cell proteins that interact with the HPV capsid proteins. A high stringency yeast two‐hybrid screen was performed to identify possible interactions and yielded >1000 colonies for the L2 bait and no colonies for the L1 bait. L2 clones were analyzed by PCR and sequencing to identify the interacting proteins, which included two clones encoding full‐length dynactin‐6. Mapping of the interaction site using the yeast two‐hybrid screen indicates a probable interaction site within residues 99–171 of dynactin 6. These results indicate that dynactin‐6 is a host cell factor involved in HPV16 infection through interaction with the L2 capsid protein. Current work seeks to confirm this interaction and determine the specific role this interaction plays in HPV16 infection. Support for this research comes from the Bio5 Institute (U. of Arizona) and the American Cancer Society, Research Scholar Grant, RSG‐117469.