%0 Journal Article %A Bousarghin, Latifa %A Touzé, Antoine %A Combita-Rojas, Alba-Lucia %A Coursaget, Pierre %T Positively charged sequences of human papillomavirus type 16 capsid proteins are sufficient to mediate gene transfer into target cells via the heparan sulfate receptor %D 2003 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 84 %N 1 %P 157-164 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.18789-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X Using synthetic peptides we have shown that positively charged sequences present at the C terminus of the L1 protein and the N and C termini of the L2 protein of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) bind to both DNA and heparan sulfate receptors. Moreover, these short amino acid sequences are sufficient to mediate gene transfer in COS-7 cells. The L1 proteins of other HPVs were shown to contain one or two DNA- and heparin-binding sequences that have the capacity to transfer genes. These DNA-binding sequences also recognized the enhancing packaging sequence of bovine papillomavirus type 1. The results suggest that the L2 protein could participate in DNA packaging during maturation of virions. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.18789-0