title: Analysis of hepatitis B virus quasispecies distribution in a Korean chronic patient based on the full genome sequences.
abstract: Although Korea is a hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemic area, relatively few full-length genome sequences are available. In particular, no comparative analysis has been performed on the full-genome sequences of different HBV quasispecies from a single Korean patient. This report describes the full-length sequences of five HBV clones (two clones with shorter PCR amplicons and three clones with longer amplicons). Large deletions, that is, 685-bp, 487-bp, and 144-bp, that might interfere with the production of normal proteins were observed in four of five clones. Double mutations in the basal core promoter (BCP) region (T1762/A1764) were detected in two clones but no precore mutations (A1896) were detected in any of the five clones. These data support previous results that genotype C, in particular Korean clones of this genotype, is prone to mutations. Two independent mechanisms, namely, the deletions of long lengths and amino acid substitutions followed by BCP double mutations might contribute to the diversity of HBV quasispecies. Considering the importance of HBV quasispecies as HBV variant sources, the distribution of HBV quasispecies in mutation prone genotype C prevalent areas like Korea, should be monitored to improve the management of chronic HBV infections and to control HBV variants that arise due to the administration of vaccine or antiviral therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Mi
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.forename: Byung-Cheol
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jin-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hyun
authors.forename: Ho-Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mun
authors.forename: Hyun-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eun-Ju
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Jung-Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Yoon-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyo-Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eung-Soo
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Chang-Yong
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Yoon-Hoh
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kook
authors.forename: Bum-Joon
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens