Full-length sequence of hepatitis B virus belonging to genotype H identified in a Japanese patient with chronic hepatitis.

We have isolated and cloned the full-length nucleotide sequence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome (denoted HBV-IM806-2) recovered from a Japanese patient with chronic hepatitis. This patient had a history of travel to Bangkok, Thailand, and then suffered the onset of acute hepatitis B 3 months after his return to Japan. The HBV-IM806-2 isolate was composed of 3,215 nucleotides and showed the highest similarity to genotype H of HBV. Interestingly, 24 amino acid residues specific for genotype H were identified throughout the full genome sequence. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on the full genome sequence confirmed that IM806-2 belonged to genotype H and was more closely related to the prototype of the Los Angeles strain than to the Nicaragua strain.