title: Is hepatitis C virus genotype 4 predominant in Saudi Arabia?
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 4 is believed to be predominant in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia (SA). We attempted to genotype 80 HCV isolates from different parts of SA by direct sequencing of a variable 222bp fragment from the NS5B region. The phylogenetic analysis of the NS5B sequences was complemented by direct sequence analysis of the conserved 5'-NCR region for HCV type-specific polymorphism. All 80 NS5B sequences separated into 3 clades which comprised 6 type 1b variants, 30 type 4 variants (24 of type 4a and 6 of type 4c or d) and 44 type 3 variants. Apart from two definitive type 3b variants the other 42 type 3 NS5B sequences formed 4 clusters with low similarity to type 3a-f HCV sequences from the database. The precise subtyping of these 42 type 3 variants awaits sequencing of longer HCV RNA stretches. Our results indicate that HCV type 4 may not be the only dominant genotype in SA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Boriskin
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Bakir
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: al-Aska
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Booth
mesh_terms: D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C087036:NS-5 protein, hepatitis C virus; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase