Isolation of a GB virus-related genome from a chimpanzee

• Published in: Journal of medical virology 1998-09, Vol.56 (1), p.44-51
• Main Authors: Birkenmeyer, Larry G., Desai, Suresh M., Muerhoff, A. Scott, Leary, Thomas P., Simons, John N., Montes, Carla C., Mushahwar, Isa K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animal viral diseases; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Chimpanzee; DNA, Viral - genetics; Flaviviridae - genetics; Flaviviridae - isolation & purification; GB virus; Genome, Viral; HCV; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal - virology; Humans; Infectious diseases; Macaca fascicularis - virology; Medical sciences; Molecular Sequence Data; Pan troglodytes - virology; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Alignment; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9071(199809)56:1<44::AID-JMV8>3.0.CO;2-N

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.