Genome structure of Human Papillomavirus

All PVs contain a double-stranded, circular DNA genome approximately 8 kb in size that can be divided into 3 major regions. These regions are separated by two polyadenylation (pA) sites: early pA and late pA.

• Long Control
  Region (LCR) Also, non-coding region (NCR), or, upstream regulatory region (URR), is a segment of about 850 bp (10% of the HPV genome). It contains the origin of replication and multiple transcription binding sites.
• Early region This region occupies over 50% of all genome from its 5' half and encodes six common open reading frames (ORFs) - E1, E2, E4, E5, E6 and E7.
• Early pA

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• Late region This region covers almost 40% of the virus genome and lies downstream of the early region and encodes L1 and L2 ORFs for translation of a major (L1) and a minor (L2) capsid proteins.
• Late pA

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