Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis G virus infection

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We recently identified a novel genotype of hepatitis G virus (HGV) in Southeast Asian countries. To characterize the viral genome in more detail, we cloned the full-length nucleotide sequence of the two different HGV isolates belonging to the novel genotype. These isolates were recovered from serum of Myanmarese (designated HGV-MY14) and Vietnamese (designated HGV-VT48) subjects, respectively. Both HGV isolates were composed of 9228 nucleotides (nt) and had a single open reading frame spanning 8529 nt and encoding 2843 amino acid (aa) residues. This isolate differed from previously reported HGV/GBV-C isolates consisting of type 1 through 3, by 13-15% of the nucleotide sequence and 4-6% of the amino acid sequence. Both isolates lacked a clearly identifiable core gene that had only 16aa residues. Based on phylogenetic analysis of the full-genome sequence, HGV-MY14 and VT48 isolates can be classified into the novel genotype as well as the result in the 5'-UTR sequence, and named this genotype, type 4.