GENOME ORGANIZATION AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATURAL INTERGENOTYPIC RECOMBINANT OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS RF1_2k/1b

Abstract

Abstract. For many years, the viral hepatitis C is considered as one of the most actual infectious pathologies of human. During the last decade the number of registered cases of chronic viral hepatitis C in Russia increased two times and reached 40.9‰. According to the current virological classification, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is differentiated into 6 genotypes and more than 200 subtypes. At the same time, increasing number of publications report about novel genetic variants of HCV. A high mutation rate is considered to be a major factor behind HCV genetic diversity. Recombination as another mechanism for creating genetic variation was not recognized as important factor for generating the HCV diversity. For a long time it was believed that the natural recombinants of hepatitis C virus were not viable. The first inter-genotype HCV recombinant RF1_2k/1b was identified in 2002 in Saint-Petersburg. The structural genes of the recombinant strain were similar to those of the HCV subtype 2k, while its nonstructural genes (except for the part of the NS2 gene) belonged to the HCV subtype 1b. Since that time, many studies were initiated to indentify natural HCV recombinants. This review presents current data regarding the genomic organization of HCV and its natural inter-genotype recombinant RF1_2k/1b as well as information about circulation of this recombinant in the world.

Keywords

• hcv natural recombinant rf1_2k/1b
• genome organization
• geographical distribution