Core promoter: A critical region where the hepatitis B virus makes decisions

Figure 2 Transcription and translation of hepatitis B virus precore. The core promoter region regulates the transcription of precore mRNA and pregenomic RNA from the same open reading frame. The precore mRNA is translated into precore protein, which is processed at the N-terminal and C-terminal ends to HBeAg, a secretory protein. Pregenomic RNA is reverse transcribed into HBV DNA and also translated into core protein (HBcAg), which overlaps with HBeAg. HBcAg: Hepatitis B core protein antigen; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen.