title: Hepatitis E Virus.
abstract: Since the sequence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) was determined from a patient with enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis in 1989, similar sequences have been isolated from many different animals, including pigs, wild boars, deer, rabbits, bats, rats, chicken, and trout. All of these sequences have the same genomic organization, which contains open reading frames (ORFs) 1, 2, and 3, although their genomic sequences are variable. Some have proposed that they be classified as new family, Hepeviridae, which would be further divided into different genera and species according to their sequence variability. The size of these virus particles generally ranged from 27 to 34 nm. However, HEV virions produced in cell culture differ in structure from the viruses found in feces. Those from cell culture have a lipid envelope and a little ORF3 on their surfaces, whereas the viruses isolated from feces lack lipid envelope and ORF3. Surprisingly, most of the secreted ORF2 protein from both these sources is not associated with HEV RNA.
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-transmitted Virus Vaccines, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, No. 2 Tiantanxili, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100050, China. wangyc@nifdc.org.cn.
authors.forename: Youchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-transmitted Virus Vaccines, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, No. 2 Tiantanxili, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100050, China.
authors.forename: Chenyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-transmitted Virus Vaccines, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, No. 2 Tiantanxili, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100050, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Hebei University, No. 342 Yuhuadonglu, Baoding, 071000, China.
authors.forename: Yansheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Geng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: Biology; Classification; Genome; Sequence; Structure