Decreased replication capacity of a duck hepatitis B virus mutant with altered distal pre-S region.
We have observed in a previous study that insertion, deletion and partial frameshift mutation in the distal pre-S region did not abolish replication capacity of the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) (Li et al., 1989, J. Virol. 63, 4965-4968). To compare further the relative replication capacity between the pre-S mutant and wild type virus, ducts were infected with either the wild type DHBV strain or a pre-S mutant (FS-17) characterized by a total change of nine consecutive amino acid codons in the distal pre-S region. Compared with the wild type virus, FS-17 exhibited decreased replication capacity whether in separate or mixed infection. The decreased viral replication was correlated with delayed appearance of supercoiled DNA and viral RNA in the hepatocytes. Besides, FS-17 induced persistent viremia when inoculated into 1-day-old ducklings; hence the transient viremia which had been observed in the previous study was probably due to the time delay needed to generate compensatory deletion mutation.
Li
J S
JS
Unité de Recherche sur les Hépatites, le SIDA et les Rétrovirus Humains U271, Lyon, France.
Fourel
I
I
Jaquet
C
C
Trépo
C
C
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015611:Hepatitis B Virus, Duck / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014766:Viremia / Q000382:microbiology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014764:Viral Proteins