COMPLETE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF A TYPE-4 HEPATITIS-C VIRUS VARIANT, THE PREDOMINANT GENOTYPE IN THE MIDDLE-EAST

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) type 4 is the predominant genotype found throu ghout the Middle East and parts of Africa, often in association with h igh population prevalence as in Egypt. To investigate more fully its e volutionary relationship with other genotypes of HCV, and to study its overall genome organization, we have determined the entire sequence e ncompassing the coding region of the genotype 4a isolate ED43, obtaine d from an HCV-infected individual from Egypt. The sequence of ED43 con tained a single open reading frame encoding a polyprotein of 3008 amin o acids (aa), smaller than that reported for other HCV genotypes which vary from 3010 aa to 3037 aa. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences were compared with the full-length sequences already reported for gen otypes 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and those of isolates JK049 and JK046 described as types 10a and 11a. The differences in length of the polyprotein originated in variable regions in the E2 and NS5A genes. The complete sequence of ED43 confirmed the classification of type 4 a s a separate major genotype.