Figure 3.

Alignment of nucleotide sequences of the 5′ noncoding region of six hepatitis GBV-C/HGV virus isolates. The sequences are compared with the American isolate PNF2161 (HGV-1, ref. 2) shown in the top line. Nucleotide substitutions are in uppercase type, identical nucleotides are shown as dots, and deleted or missed nucleotides are shown as a blank. The potential initiation codon for the viral polyprotein is indicated by an arrowhead. The three variable regions are indicated as V-1 (nucleotides −399 to −369), V-2 (nucleotides −274 to −238), and V-3 (nucleotides −53 to −27).