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The W29 (GU357844) may not be genotype I

Posted by simmon on 04 Mar 2010 at 01:44 GMT

Since 1988, when nucleotide diversity of >8% in the entire genome was first proposed for genotyping. However, the W29 (GU357844) genome sequence deviates less than 8% from some genotype C genome sequences, such as AB105174 (C1), X52939 (C2), AB105172 (C3), AB048705 (C4).

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RE: The W29 (GU357844) may not be genotype I

yuhai replied to simmon on 06 Mar 2010 at 07:37 GMT

W29 is grouped with all of the previous reported genotype I sequences (Vietnam & Laos). Considered all published HBV sequences, the average distance between this group and genotype C group has reach 8%. We consider that the criterion does not mean the diversity of each sequence in different genotypes should exceed 8%. In fact, many sequence in genotype D (e.g. AB126581) show difference less than 8% with genotype E (e.g. AB091256). We even found such example in genotype B (EU158262) and genotype C (AB367417).

No competing interests declared.