title: Full-length genomic sequence of subgenotype IIIA hepatitis A virus isolate in Republic of Korea.
abstract: Hepatitis A virus is known to cause acute hepatitis and has significant implications for public health throughout the world. In the Republic of Korea, the number of patients with hepatitis A virus infection has been increasing rapidly since 2006. In this study, the Kor-HAV-F strain was identified as subgenotype IIIA by RT-PCR, and its identity was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing and alignment analysis. Moreover, detailed phylogenetic analysis indicated that the Kor-HAV-F strain clustered into subgenotype IIIA, including strains isolated in Japan, Norway, and India. The entire amino acid sequence of the VP1 and 2A regions was compared with that of the reference strains isolated in various countries. We found 2 amino acid changes (T168A and L96P, resp.) in the VP1 and 2A regions, which had not been found in any other hepatitis A virus strain. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the full-length sequence of a hepatitis A virus isolated in the Republic of Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ah-Ra
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung-Geun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Lae-Hyung
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Weon-Hwa
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Jheong
authors.forename: Soon-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Paik
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D017957:Hepatitis A Virus, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins