[Detection of hepatitis A virus RNA by molecular hybridization]

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was propagated in continuous rhesus monkey embryo kidney cells (FRhK-4 line). HAV RNA extracted with phenol from purified HAV pretreated with proteinase K was used for molecular cloning experiments. Two radioactive plasmids, pHAV-23 and pHAV-5p, containing HAV cDNA fragments complementary to structural and nonstructural parts of HAV genome, respectively, were found to be useful for discrimination between mature virions and subviral structures. HAV cDNA-RNA hybridization seems to be 10 times more sensitive than the enzyme immunoassay (ELISA).