Single-molecule binding studies of antiviral compounds targeting the hepatitis c virus core protein

Abstract

Of the 10 different proteins associated with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), the HCV core protein (HCVcp) is the most conserved. HCVcp is a nucleocapsid protein that plays a crucial role in viral assembly and therefore it is a promising target for antiviral therapeutics. However, the intrinsically disorder nature of the protein leads to a high-degree of conformational heterogeneity, which makes it challenging to study biochemical interactions between HCVcp and potential therapeutics using classical structure-based approaches.