HEPATITIS-C VIRUS VARIANTS FROM JAKARTA, INDONESIA CLASSIFIABLE INTO NOVEL GENOTYPES IN THE 2ND (2E AND 2F), 10TH (10A) AND 11TH (11A) GENETIC GROUPS

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolates from 126 hepatitis patients in Jakart a, Indonesia were genotyped by PCR with genotype-specific primers dedu ced from the HCV core gene. Fifty-five isolates (44%) were classified as genotype II/1b, 15 (12%) as 1c, 33 (26%) as III/2a, and 1 (1%) as V /3a, while the remaining 22 (17%) were not classifiable into any of th e five common genotypes (I/1a, II/1b, III/2a, IV/2b and V/3a) or 1c. S equences of a part of the NS5b region [1093 bp (nucleotides 8279-9371) ] of the 22 isolates of unclassifiable genotype were subjected to pair -wise comparison and phylogenetic analysis along with those of 62 isol ates of 25 genotypes in nine genetic groups. Seven of the isolates wer e classified into 2e and two into 2f, representing novel genotypes in genetic group 2, while ten and three were classified into two new gene tic groups, 10 and 11, respectively, and their genotypes were provisio nally designated 10a and 11a. The isolates of genotype 10a (JK049) and 11a (JK046) were sequenced in full. Comparison of 24 HCV genomes incl uding those of JK049 and JK046, over the entire genome and subgenomic regions, supported the classification of HCV into 11 genetic groups.