Chromosome 4 Open Reading Frame 3 (C4orf3)

Chromosome 4 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 4 spans more than 186 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 6 and 6.5 percent of the total DNA in cells. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) F protein is a newly discovered HCV gene product that is expressed by translational ribosomal frameshift. Little is known about the biological properties of this protein. The half-life of the F protein could be substantially increased by proteasome inhibitors, suggesting that the rapid degradation of the F protein is mediated by the proteasome pathway. Further immunofluorescence staining and subcellular fractionation experiments indicate that the F protein is primarily associated with the endoplasmic reticulum.