Abstract
A modified method for the direct sequencing of double-stranded DNA products of PCR amplification is described and has been applied to the analysis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) preC/C region in samples from persistently infected patients with chronic hepatitis. Data was obtained from both hepatitis B e antigen(HBeAg)-positive and -negative chronic carriers. A high prevalence of mixed viral populations (wild-type genomes and mutated sequences with a TAG stop codon in the distal preC region at position 1895-1897) was shown in the HBeAg-positive group; a homogeneous (either mutated or wild-type) viral population was detected in all but one of the long-term HBeAg-negative, untreated chronic carriers, thus suggesting that pre-core mutants can be rapidly generated and selected during the natural course of HBV infection.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 303-306 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Research in Virology |
Volume | 144 |
Issue number | C |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1993 |
Keywords
- HBV, Pre-core, HBeAg, DNA
- Sequencing, Mutants
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology
- Virology