[Chinese strain of hepatitis D virus: molecular cloning and sequencing, and the significance of its genome divergence]

Abstract

The hepatitis D virus (HDV) obtained from a chronic asymptomatic HDV/HBsAg carrier (SZ 93) in Sichuan province was cloned with 1,684 nucleotides in full-length genome by reverse transcription-PCR. Comparison of SZ 93 with those obtained from different geographic area: i.e., Italia, United States, British, Nauru, Taiwan, Netherland, showed 81.8%-95.4% homology in nucleotide sequence of whole genome, 88.9%-96.1% homology in nucleotide sequence of HDAg-coding region, and 86.4%-93.0% homology in amino acid sequence of HDAg protein. Also, another isolate (SZ 92) obtained from a chronic severe hepatitis patient in Sichuan was cloned with HDAg-coding region. There were some mutations in SZ 92 compared with SZ 93 as well as the other clones mentioned above. The meaning for the genome divergence of HDV SZ 93 and SZ 92 was discussed.