Table 3.

Summary of novel and functionally relevant HBx mutations identified in four chronic HBV patient samples from Kerman compared with the D1 reference sequence (U95551.1).

Sample ID	Nt* position	Nt* change	Aa* position	Aa change	Mutation type	Transition/Transversion	Predicted functional impact	Reported/Novel	Gene accession number
Kerman_3	217	G → T	73	Gly → Val	Nonsynonymous	Transversion	May alter protein secondary structure and HBx interactions	Novel	MT986033.1
Kerman_15	109	G → C	37	Gly → Ala	Nonsynonymous	Transversion	Potential effect on helix stability and transcription factor binding	Novel	MT986035.1
Kerman_15	128	G → A	43	Gly → Asp	Nonsynonymous	Transition	Possible impact on HBx protein stability	Reported	MT986035.1
Kerman_17	96	C → A	32	Pro → His	Nonsynonymous	Transversion	Structural alteration in the regulatory domain of HBx	Novel	MT986036.1
Kerman_17	217	G → T	73	Gly → Val	Nonsynonymous	Transversion	Located in the transactivation domain, may contribute to carcinogenesis	Novel	MT986036.1
Kerman_19	217	G → T	73	Gly → Val	Nonsynonymous	Transversion	Similar to 17_Kerman, associated with disease severity	Novel	MT986037.1
Kerman_19	312	T → C	104	— (synonymous)	Synonymous	Transition	No amino acid change, but may serve as a genetic marker	—	MT986037.1

^*Nucleotide, ^*Amino acid.