Genotyping of hepatitis B virus isolated from chronic hepatitis B patients in the south of Turkey by DNA cycle-sequencing method

The 8 genotypes of hepatitis B virus (HBV A-H) show a distinct geographic distribution and influence the course of disease and the prognosis of treatment. In this study, we have genotyped 50 HBV isolates circulating in the south of Turkey by DNA cycle sequencing, based on their compatibility with reference sequences of a part of S gene. In our cases, all 50 (100%) HBV sequences from the patients demonstrated full compatibility with the sequences of ayw subtype viruses in genotype D. However, we have found some nucleotide sequence variations within genotype D, 47 (94%) of which were related to HBVGEN1 (Z35716 genotype D) and 3 (6%) were related to HBVDNA (X68292, genotype D).