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. 1991 Nov 15;88(22):10292–10296. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.22.10292

Genomic structure of the human prototype strain H of hepatitis C virus: comparison with American and Japanese isolates.

G Inchauspe 1, S Zebedee 1, D H Lee 1, M Sugitani 1, M Nasoff 1, A M Prince 1
PMCID: PMC52914  PMID: 1658800

Abstract

Genomic RNA from the human prototype strain H of the hepatitis C virus (HCV-H) has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. The HCV-H sequence reported consists of 9416 nucleotides including the 5' and 3' untranslated regions. HCV-H shows 96% amino acid identity with the American isolate HCV-1 but only 84.9% with the Japanese isolates HCV-J and HCV-BK. In addition to the hypervariable region (region V) previously identified in the putative E2 domain, three other variable domains were identified: region V1 (putative E1), region V2 (putative E2), and region V3 (putative NS5). These regions appear rather conserved (86-100%) among the American isolates (HCV-1 and HC-J1) or among various Japanese isolates (HCV-J, HCV-BK, HCV-JH, and HC-J4) but show striking heterogeneity when the two subgroups are compared (42-87.5% amino acid difference). A structural similarity between the 5'-terminal hairpin structure of HCV and of poliovirus was observed. This study further suggests the existence of at least two genomic subtypes of HCV and confirms a distant relationship between HCV and pestiviruses.

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Selected References

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