HAV
▸ HAV, first identified in 1973, is:
◦
non-enveloped
◦
spherical
◦ positive stranded RNA virus
◦
genus hepatovirus
◦
picornavirus family
▸ HAV strains recovered from widely separated
regions of the world are antigenically similar.
In humans, a single serotype of HAV exists.
HAV
▸ HAV is known to produce disease in humans
and non-human primates.
▸ In vitro, the wild type virus is generally
against re-infection.
Morphology
▸ HAV is among the smallest and structurally
simplest of the RNA animal viruses.
▸ The virion is non-enveloped and, with a
single serotype.
HEV
▸ Replication in cell culture was first reported in
1993; yields of virus are generally very low.
▸ In natural infections, the virus replicates in
hepatocytes.
▸ In vivo infected macaque hepatocytes support
▸ ORF2 does not overlap with ORF1; it is located at the 3'-end of the
genome and encodes the principal and probably only structural
protein. It is a capsid protein of 660 amino acids (71 kDa).