Hepatitis delta virus cDNA and Antigen

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a defective RNA virus that depends on the presence of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) to replicate and cause infection. HDV infection can cause severe liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The two major antigens encoded by HDV are the Delta antigen and the Mutant Delta antigen. The Delta antigen is further divided into two forms, the large delta antigen (p27) and the small delta antigen (p24).

The large delta antigen (p27) is a 27-kDa protein that is the most abundant protein produced by HDV. It plays a critical role in HDV assembly and replication. The small delta antigen (p24) is a 24-kDa protein that is essential for HDV replication, but its exact role is not fully understood.

The Mutant Delta antigen is a protein variant that arises during chronic HDV infection. It is thought to be involved in the development of liver damage and the progression of liver disease.

The use of recombinant proteins/cDNA in academic research and therapeutic applications has skyrocketed. However, in heterologous expression systems, successful recombinant protein expression is dependent on a variety of factors, including codon preference, RNA secondary structure, and GC content. When compared to pre-optimization, more and more experimental results demonstrated that the expression level was dramatically increased, ranging from two to hundred times depending on the gene. Bioclone has created a proprietary technology platform that has resulted in the creation of over 6,000 artificially synthesized codon-optimized cDNA clones (cloned in E.coli expression Vector), which are ready for production of the recombinant proteins.