RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Xie, Youhua A1 Li, Mei A1 Wang, Yuan A1 Hofschneider, Peter Hans A1 Weiss, LudwigYR 2001 T1 Site-specific mutation of the hepatitis B virus enhancer II B1 element: effect on virus transcription and replication JF Journal of General Virology, VO 82 IS 3 SP 531 OP 535 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-82-3-531 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB The hepatitis B virus (HBV) enhancer II (EII) is highly liver-specific and plays an important role in regulating the transcription of all HBV genes. In this report, mutational analysis on the B1F-binding site in the major functional unit of HBV EII is described. The activity of HBV EII in EIIā€“CAT reporter plasmids was significantly decreased when the sequence of the B1F-binding site in EII was mutated. Furthermore, a single point mutation in the B1 element that aborted the binding of B1F caused a dramatic decrease in viral gene transcription initiated from the HBV core promoter, which resulted in a reduction of the production of the HBV e antigen and pregenomic RNA, the template for viral DNA replication. In conclusion, the interaction of B1F with its target binding sequence in the EII region is crucial for liver-specific transcription and DNA replication of the virus., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/0022-1317-82-3-531