Figure 1.

Example chromatograms of the basic core promotor/precore (BCP/PC) region of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome. Panel (A) shows the “Kozak” region (TCAT) of subgenotype A1, followed by the “ATG” pre-core start codon; Panel (B) shows ambiguous (wobble) bases, which result from double peaks. These indicate a mixed population or the presence of quasispecies. Quality scores are indicated by the grey bars above each base call. The quality score associated with the ambiguous “W” base in panel (B) is 15, compared with scores above 50 for each base of the “TCAT” motif in panel (A).