TABLE 1.

Amino acid changes in the HBsAg and the overlapping polymerase open reading frame of the 5 clones showing variations within the S gene^a

Clone no.	HBsAg		HBV polymerase
	Amino acid position	Amino acid change	Amino acid position	Amino acid change
1	107	C→R	463	L→S
	153	P→T	509	P→H
	185	G→E	541	Wild type
	194	A→T	550	S→N
	202	G→R	558	G→E
	213	I→L	569	Y→F
2	45	S→A	401	I→S
	46	P→H	402	Wild type
	213	I→L	569	Y→F
3	45	S→A	401	I→S
	133	M→K	489	Y→STOP
	213	I→L	569	I→F
4	161	Y→S	517	Wild type
	213	I→L	569	I→F
5	49	L→H	405	Wild type
	125	T→A	481	H→R
	140	Wild type	496	K→E
	152	I→F	508	H→L
	213	I→L	569	Y→F

^aAmino acid positions of both HBsAg and polymerase reflect the corresponding number for each residue at the same location of both out-of-frame overlapping ORFs, as represented in Fig. 1A; i.e., position 107 of HBsAg corresponds to position 463 of polymerase and likewise for the rest of the corresponding positions. Note that most substitutions in HBsAg affect the polymerase amino acid sequence and vice versa.