Synthesis and assembly of virus-like particles of human papillomaviruses type 6 and type 16 in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

AbstractWe have synthesized capsid proteins of human papillomavirus types 6 (HPV 6) and 16 (HPV 16) in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and produced virus-like particles (VLP). The capsid proteins were localized in the nucleus by indirect immunofluorescence and cell fractionation analyses. The VLP were produced in both yeast clones synthesizing L1 alone and L1/L2 and purified by sulfato-cellulofine chromatography. Electron microscopic examination showed that these VLP were similar in structure to native HPV particles. Two HPV 16 L1 variants (16 B27L1 and 16 T3L1), isolated from benign cervical samples, produced many more (68- and 14-fold) VLP than the prototype L1 (16 PL1) derived fr…