Full-Length Sequences of Two Hepatitis E Virus Isolates Representing an Eastern China-Indigenous Subgroup of Genotype 4

Abstract

Although the majority of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections in Japan are ‘domestic’ due to the presence of indigenous strains, there are still ‘imported’ cases as well. Among 83 patients with non-A, non-B and non-C acute liver diseases admitted to Saitama Medical University Hospital, 7 (8.4%) were positive for serum HEV-RNA, of whom 2 had a recent history of traveling to China, one to Xian and another to Shanghai. We determined the full-genome sequences of HEV from these 2 patients (isolate names are JKO-ChiSai98c and JYI-ChiSai01c, genotype 4 in both) for phylogenetic analyses. Initially, when compared only to the 13 full-genome sequences of genotype 4 so far reported, our 2 isolates were thought to be novel strains because they showed a significant genetic difference from the sequences known to date. However, when we included a set of short sequences (150 nt) recently reported from China in the comparison, we found that our 2 isolates represent a subgroup of genotype 4, which seems to be restricted to eastern China. In conclusion, the 2 HEV isolates reported here could serve as full-genome prototypes for an eastern China-indigenous subgroup of the genotype 4 HEV.

Hepatitis E Virus Infection among Domestic Animals in Eastern China

“…Koike et al. (2007) isolated a genotype 4 HEV strain () from a Japanese patient who had history of travelling to Shanghai City of China and suggested that this isolate was Shanghai‐indigenous.…”

“…This suggested that these isolates came from a common origin and supported that zoonotic transmission of HEV was involved in Shanghai region. Koike et al (2007) isolated a genotype 4 HEV strain (EF197674) from a Japanese patient who had history of travelling to Shanghai City of China and suggested that this isolate was Shanghai-indigenous. We included this isolate in our sequence analysis and results indicated that it had not close relationship to any isolates we determined in this study (Fig.…”

Isolation and characterization of a genotype 4 Hepatitis E virus strain from an infant in China

“…Sequence analysis (Fig. 2 ) based on full OFR2 sequences indicated the isolate in the present study shared 87.2–97.6% identities with the other Chinese genotype 4 HEV isolates referenced here, and the highest sequence identity (97.6%) with another Shanghai HEV strain ( AB197674 ) isolated from a Japanese patient who was reportedly infected during traveling in Shanghai of China [ 8 ]. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the isolate determined in this study closely clustered with other 3 Chinese genotype 4 HEV strains from human (Fig.…”