title: Genomic structure of the human prototype strain H of hepatitis C virus: comparison with American and Japanese isolates.
abstract: Genomic RNA from the human prototype strain H of the hepatitis C virus (HCV-H) has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. The HCV-H sequence reported consists of 9416 nucleotides including the 5' and 3' untranslated regions. HCV-H shows 96% amino acid identity with the American isolate HCV-1 but only 84.9% with the Japanese isolates HCV-J and HCV-BK. In addition to the hypervariable region (region V) previously identified in the putative E2 domain, three other variable domains were identified: region V1 (putative E1), region V2 (putative E2), and region V3 (putative NS5). These regions appear rather conserved (86-100%) among the American isolates (HCV-1 and HC-J1) or among various Japanese isolates (HCV-J, HCV-BK, HCV-JH, and HC-J4) but show striking heterogeneity when the two subgroups are compared (42-87.5% amino acid difference). A structural similarity between the 5'-terminal hairpin structure of HCV and of poliovirus was observed. This study further suggests the existence of at least two genomic subtypes of HCV and confirms a distant relationship between HCV and pestiviruses.
authors.affiliation: Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, Laboratory of Virology and Parasitology, NY 10021.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Inchauspe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zebedee
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugitani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasoff
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Prince
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral