Analysis of conserved ambisense sequences within GB virus C.
No analysis has been done of the ambisense of GB virus C (GBV-C). When the anti-genomes of 16 reported sequences of GBV-C were analyzed, nucleotide codons 1758 and 1402 within the anti-genome were conserved initiation and stop codons, respectively. Nucleotide sequences were also determined within the same region of 22 GBV-C strains. The anti-genomes of 38 sequences were translated and a consensus sequence was determined. In accordance with the consensus sequence, overlapping peptides were synthesized and used for the detection of anti-synthetic peptide antibodies by ELISA. The positivity of antibodies among sera with GBV-C RNA was significantly higher than among sera without GBV-C RNA (66.7% vs. 15.6%), regardless of the simultaneous presence of hepatitis B surface antigen or antibodies to hepatitis C virus (P < .05). These results indicated that a novel protein associated with GBV-C might be expressed from the ambisense of this virus.
Kondo
Y
Y
Second Department of Medicine, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.
Mizokami
M
M
Nakano
T
T
Kato
T
T
Tanaka
Y
Y
Hirashima
N
N
Ueda
R
R
Kunimatsu
M
M
Sasaki
M
M
Yasuda
K
K
Iino
S
S
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins