Fischer K P, Tyrrell D L
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1996 Aug;40(8):1957-60. doi: 10.1128/AAC.40.8.1957.
Hepatitis B virus replication is very sensitive to lamivudine. A single amino acid change in human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase is responsible for high-level resistance to this compound. Duck hepatitis B virus mutants were created bearing the analogous amino acid change in the duck hepatitis B virus polymerase. Viral DNA production was reduced 92% for the wild-type virus at 2 micrograms of lamivudine per ml, while the mutants required 40 micrograms of lamivudine per ml to inhibit replication by greater than 80%.