Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the liver. The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood or body fluids. In areas where the disease is common, infection around the time of birth or from contact with other people's blood during childhood are the most frequent methods by which hepatitis B is acquired. In areas where the disease is rare, intravenous drug use and sexual intercourse are the most frequent routes of infection. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a member of the hepadnavirus family. The virus particle (virion) consists of an outer lipid envelope and an icosahedral nucleocapsid core composed of core protein. These virions are 30–42 nm in diameter. The nucleocapsid encloses the viral DNA and a DNA polymerase that has reverse transcriptase activity. The outer envelope contains embedded proteins that are involved in viral binding of, and entry into, susceptible cells. The virus is one of the smallest enveloped animal viruses. The 42 nm virions, which are capable of infecting liver cells known as hepatocytes, are referred to as "Dane particles". In addition to the Dane particles, filamentous and spherical bodies lacking a core can be found in the serum of infected individuals. These particles are not infectious and are composed of the lipid and protein that forms part of the surface of the virion, which is called the surface antigens (HBsAg), and is produced in excess during the life cycle of the virus. Here you can see a cryoEM structure of the core protein Cp183 from human hepatitis B virus (PDB code: 8G6V)

#molecularart ... #core ... #hepatitisb ... #virus ... #virion ... #cryoem

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint