Clone Q379 immunoscreened from a Chinese HCV cDNA lambda gt11 library

A Chinese HCV cDNA clone, designated as Q379, 379 nucleotides in length, was selected by recombinant immunoscreening from a random-primed Chinese HCV lambda gt11 library. DNA sequencing demonstrated that Q379 situated from positions 7314 to 7695 at NS5 region corresponded with the American prototype HCV nucleotide sequence. The homologies of Q379 with the equivalent sequences of the prototype were found to be 72.8% in nucleotides and 73.8% in amino acids, respectively. Hydrophobicity profile shows that Q379-encoded polypeptide (126 amino acid residues) contains two hydrophilic areas. This Chinese HCV clone would be valuable in basic and clinical studies of Chinese HCV infection.