Molecular Characterization of a Full Genome Turkish Hepatitis C Virus 1b Isolate (HCV-TR1): A Predominant Viral Form in Turkey |
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Authors: | Yildiz Esra Oztan Asli Sar Funda Pinarbasi Ergun Cetin-Atalay Rengul Akkiz Hikmet Ozturk Mehmet |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and BilGen Genetics and Biotechnology, Research and Development Center, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey;(2) Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey;(3) Department of Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey |
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Abstract: | Based on direct sequencing information from 5 UTR and NS5B regions, we identified subtype 1b as a predominant hepatitis C virus genome in Turkey, which affected more than 91% of 79 patients studied. Next, the full genome sequence of a Turkish 1b isolate was obtained by the cloning of polypeptide-encoding region into 7 overlapping fragments. Turkish 1b isolate, which was named HCV-TR1, comprises 9361 nucleotides, including 306 nucleotides of 5 UTR, a single long open reading frame of 9033 nucleotides, and 22 nucleotides of 3 UTR. When compared to HCV 1b polypeptide sequences available at GenBank, the predicted polypeptide displayed a total of 36 amino acid substitutions, of which 16 was specific for HCV-TR1 isolate. Despite these changes, major structural and functional motifs of HCV proteins were maintained in HCV-TR1. In contrast, HCV-TR1 displayed amino acid substitutions in 6 out of 9 major cytotoxic T-cell epitopes. These data suggest that HCV-TR1 encodes functionally intact viral proteins, but it also encodes altered viral epitopes, which may affect host immune-response. |
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Keywords: | hepatitis C virus subtype 1b HCV-TR1 Turkey viral epitope |
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