title: Why do human hepatitis viruses replicate so poorly in cell cultures?
abstract: The five viruses which classically cause hepatitis in man represent diverse families of viruses and share in common only a striking hepatotropism and substantial restrictions to replication in conventional cell cultures. Hepatitis A virus is unique among these viruses in that it is amenable to propagation in cell culture, but replication of this virus is much slower and less efficient than replication of other picornaviruses. This probably reflects less efficient cap-independent viral translation, as well as restrictions at other points in the replication cycle. We speculate that the significantly restricted replication of hepatitis viruses in cell culture reflects evolutionary forces controlling their transmission and propagation through human populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-7030.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lemon
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Whetter
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006518:Hepatitis Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014776:Virus Cultivation; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral