Uncover proteins binding HBV rcDNA

To comprehensively uncover host proteins involved in HBV rcDNA repair, we employed a rcDNA repair system, which can simulate the process of cccDNA formation in vitro. Biotinylated rcDNA first bonds with streptavidin magnetic beads and is then incubated with cell extracts of HepG2-NTCP-K7 cells to facilitate rcDNA repair. The proteins recruited by biotinylated rcDNA were identified by mass spectrometry. Proteins with the number of captured peptides by biotinylated HBV rcDNA was greater than or equal to 5 and twice that of control were classified as the target proteins. Based on this, a total of 83 target proteins were screened to perform the GeneOntology (GO) analysis, revealing that the top-listed genes were involved in DNA repair.