Laboratory of Clinical Virology, WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Poliomyelitis and Measles, for EMR, Pasteur Institute, Tunis, Tunisia.
University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 11;16(3):e0248249. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248249. eCollection 2021.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a high genetic diversity. Eight genotypes and 90 subtypes are currently described. Genotypes are clinically significant for therapeutic management and their determination is necessary for epidemiological studies.
Tunisian patients plasma samples (n = 6) with unassigned HCV-2 subtype using partial sequencing in the NS5B and Core/E1 regions were analyzed by realizing whole-genome sequencing analysis. Phylogenetic analyses were performed to assign subtypes.
Phylogenetic analysis of the full genome sequences of Tunisian strains shows two subtypes within HCV-2. These later were genetically distinct from all previously established HCV-2 subtypes with nucleotide divergence greater than 15% (20% -31%). These two subtypes are proposed as new subtypes 2v and 2w.
The discovery of two new HCV-2 subtypes circulating in the Tunisian population confirms the great diversity of HCV-2 viruses and increases the total number of HCV-2 subtypes from 21 to 23.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）具有高度的遗传多样性。目前已描述了 8 种基因型和 90 个亚型。基因型对治疗管理具有重要的临床意义，其确定对于流行病学研究是必要的。
使用 NS5B 和 Core/E1 区域的部分测序对未分配 HCV-2 亚型的 6 例突尼斯患者的血浆样本进行分析，通过实现全基因组测序分析。进行系统进化分析以分配亚型。
对突尼斯毒株全基因组序列的系统进化分析显示，HCV-2 中有两种亚型。这些后来与所有先前建立的 HCV-2 亚型在核苷酸差异上大于 15%（20%-31%）。这两种亚型被提议为新的 2v 和 2w 亚型。
在突尼斯人群中发现的两种新的 HCV-2 亚型证实了 HCV-2 病毒的巨大多样性，并将 HCV-2 亚型的总数从 21 增加到 23。
