FIG. 1.

Comparison of deduced amino acid sequences of the HCV HVR1 isolated from 11 patients, A to K, 18 months after the first examination. Minor isolates from each patient are shown as patient letters with numbers. (A) Alignment of the amino acid sequences. Only amino acid residues differing from the reference sequences (A, C, E, H, and I) of each cluster are shown. The actual number of plasmid clones obtained from each patient is shown on the right. (B) Phylogenetic tree of HVR1 nucleotide sequences constructed by the neighbor-joining method using 24 isolates from 11 HD patients and 25 unrelated isolates. The Roman numerals on the right indicate the genetic clusters of 24 isolates from HD patients. Three related isolates (•) obtained from a single patient at different months, indicated by numbers, were included as a control cluster (11). Bootstrap analysis was performed for 1,000 trials, and calculated values are shown at each branch.