Chan S W, McOmish F, Holmes E C, Dow B, Peutherer J F, Follett E, Yap P L, Simmonds P
Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical School, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
J Gen Virol. 1992 May;73 ( Pt 5):1131-41. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-73-5-1131.
Sequences obtained in the 5' non-coding region (5'NCR) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) were obtained from Scottish blood donors and compared with previously published HCV sequences. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the existence of three distinct groups of sequences; two of these corresponded to the recently described HCV types 1 and 2 variants, while viral sequences detected in around a third of the blood donors formed a separate phylogenetic group that probably represents infection with a novel virus species. Nucleotide sequences of this latter group differed from all previously published 5'NCR sequence variants by at least 9%. This new virus type also differed considerably from previously published variants in other regions of the viral genome (core, NS-3 and NS-5), with corrected nucleotide distances of 15, 43 and 49% respectively from the prototype HCV-1 sequence. Formal phylogenetic analysis of each of the coding regions confirmed that HCV type 1 variants could be clearly differentiated into regional variants (Far East and U.S.A./European), in contrast to the clearly overlapping geographical distributions of the main HCV types in U.K. blood donors. We discuss the evidence for and against the hypothesis that the three main phylogenetic groups identified in this study represent separate species of HCV.
从苏格兰献血者中获取丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）5'非编码区（5'NCR）的序列，并与先前发表的HCV序列进行比较。系统发育分析揭示存在三个不同的序列组；其中两组对应于最近描述的HCV 1型和2型变体，而在大约三分之一的献血者中检测到的病毒序列形成了一个单独的系统发育组，可能代表感染了一种新型病毒物种。后一组的核苷酸序列与所有先前发表的5'NCR序列变体至少相差9%。这种新病毒类型在病毒基因组的其他区域（核心、NS-3和NS-5）也与先前发表的变体有很大差异，与原型HCV-1序列的校正核苷酸距离分别为15%、43%和49%。对每个编码区进行的正式系统发育分析证实，HCV 1型变体可明确区分为区域变体（远东和美国/欧洲），这与英国献血者中主要HCV类型明显重叠的地理分布形成对比。我们讨论了支持和反对本研究中确定的三个主要系统发育组代表HCV不同物种这一假设的证据。
