Recombinant expression of hhbv reverse transcriptase (rt)

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of producing a functional cell-free hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase (RT) comprising the steps of expressing HBV-RT in E. coli cells employing a suitable expression plasmid, or in a cell-free transcription-translation system and if expression was carried out in E. coli cells, lysing said E. coli cells and purifying HBV-RT from E. coli lysate or from said transcription-translation system. The invention further relates to a method of screening for an inhibitor of HBV-RT activity comprising the steps of contacting the cell-free HBV-RT produced according to methods of the present invention and with a potential inhibitor and assaying whether said potential inhibitor inhibits HBV-RT activity. Furthermore, the invention provides for a method of producing a pharmaceutical composition comprising the step of formulating the inhibitor identified by the screening method of the invention into a pharmaceutical composition.