title: Hepatitis C-like viruses are produced in cells from rabbit and hare DNA.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major causative agent of acute and chronic liver disease, belongs to the Flaviviridæ family and contains a single-strand positive-sense RNA genome, which upon virus entry and uncoating, functions as mRNAs and thus can be directly translated into proteins by host cell machinery. To date the HCV origin remains unclear and HCV life cycle and pathogenesis are not enlightened processes due to the absence of HCV efficient cell cultures systems or animals models. Here we show that rabbit and hare HCV-like viruses, RHCV and HHCV respectively, are formed after the inoculation of genomic DNA in Madin-Darby bovine kidney cell line cultures. RHCV is closely related to the HCV-1a/HCV-1b genotypes and HHCV is more closely related to the HCV-1b genotype. These findings could contribute to the understanding of HCV origin as well as clarify the virus life cycle, pathogenesis, evolution and diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinics, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar da Uiversidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.|Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (InBio), Universidade do Porto, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 7, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Eliane
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, s/n, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.|Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, S/N, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.|Faculty of Medicine da University of Porto, Al. Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Osório
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinics, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar da Uiversidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.|Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (InBio), Universidade do Porto, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 7, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Gertrude
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology*; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D034621:Hares / Q000821:virology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000821:virology*; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D010802:Phylogeny; D011817:Rabbits; D014162:Transfection; D014771:Virion / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D045424:Complex Mixtures; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004247:DNA