title: Identification of Novel A2/C2 Inter-Genotype Recombinants of Hepatitis B Virus from a Korean Chronic Patient Co-Infected with Both Genotype A2 and C2.
abstract: Nearly all cases of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in South Korea have the C2 genotype. Here, we have identified a chronically infected patient who was co-infected with HBV of both the A2 and C2 genotypes by screening 135 Korean chronically infected patients using direct sequencing protocols targeting the 1032-bp polymerase reverse transcriptase (RT) region. Further polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-cloning analysis (22 clones) of the RT showed that this patient had genotype C2 (12 clones), genotype A2 (six clones) and A2/C2 inter-genotype HBV recombinants (four clones). BootScan analysis showed that three of the four recombinants have different types of recombination breakpoints in both the RT and overlapping hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) region. Given the significance of HBsAg as a diagnostic or vaccination target against HBV infection, clinical implications of these identified recombinants should be studied in the future. To our knowledge, this is the first report on A2/C2 inter-genotype HBV recombinants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. leesy8822@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: So-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. edgeleading@naver.com.
authors.forename: Seung-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. nell3566@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Ji-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. wild0804@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea. kimkj@cau.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Kijeong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. yhkook@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yoon-Hoh
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kook
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, Liver Research Institute and Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. kbumjoon@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Bum-Joon
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D056905:Chromosome Breakpoints; D060085:Coinfection / Q000821:virology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
keywords: Hepatitis B virus; inter-genotypical recombination; polymerase RT region; small surface protein; subgenotype A2; subgenotype C2