Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Birkenmeyer, Larry G.
• Desai, Suresh M.
• Muerhoff, A. Scott
• Leary, Thomas P.
• Simons, John N.
• Montes, Carla C.
• Mushahwar, Isa K.

Titel

Isolation of a GB virus-related genome from a chimpanzee

Ist Teil von

• Journal of medical virology, 1998-09, Vol.56 (1), p.44-51

Ort / Verlag

New York: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company

Erscheinungsjahr

1998

Quelle

Access via Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Recently, two new flaviviruses, GB virus A (GBV‐A) and GB virus B (GBV‐B), were identified in the plasma of a tamarin infected with the hepatitis GB agent. A third virus, GB virus C (GBV‐C), was subsequently identified in humans. In the current study, representational difference analysis (RDA) was used to search for a new virus in the serum of a chimpanzee that developed acute resolving hepatitis following inoculation with a pool of chimpanzee plasma. The plasma pool originated from serial passages of a human sample containing virus‐like particles. Numerous cDNA clones were obtained that exhibited 62–80% identity with GBV‐C. With the exception of the extreme 5′ and 3′ ends, the complete viral genome was sequenced, revealing a single large open reading frame encoding a 2833 amino acid polyprotein that contains two envelope proteins, two proteases, a helicase, and an RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase. Phylogenetic analysis of the new virus indicates that it is closely related to GBV‐C, yet still sufficiently divergent as to be placed in a separate group, tentatively labeled GB virus Ctroglodytes (GBV‐Ctro). Numerous human samples were screened by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), but GBV‐Ctro sequence was not detected. However, a second chimpanzee inoculated with the same plasma pool was shown to develop a GBV‐Ctro infection. Although isolated from an Old World primate with hepatitis, the primary host of GBV‐Ctro and any association with disease remains to be determined. J. Med. Virol. 56:44–51, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.