ANALYSIS OF CONSERVED AMBISENSE SEQUENCES WITHIN GB-VIRUS-C

No analysis has been done of the ambisense of GB virus C (GBV-C). When the anti-genomes of 16 reported sequences of GBV-C were analyzed, nuc leotide codons 1758 and 1402 within the antigenome were conserved init iation and stop codons, respectively. Nucleotide sequences were also d etermined within the same region of 22 GBV-C strains. The anti-genomes of 38 sequences were translated and a consensus sequence was determin ed, In accordance with the consensus sequence, overlapping peptides we re synthesized and used for the detection of anti-synthetic peptide an tibodies by ELISA, The positivity of antibodies among sera with GBV-C RNA was significantly higher than among sera without GBV-C RNA (66.7% vs. 15.6%), regardless of the simultaneous presence of hepatitis B sur face antigen or antibodies to hepatitis C virus (P < .05). These resul ts indicated that a novel protein associated with GBV-C might be expre ssed from the ambisense of this virus.