Hepatitis delta (δ) cDNA clones: Undetectable hybridization to nucleic acids from infectious non‐A, non‐B hepatitis materials and hepatitis B DNA

Abstract

Hepatitis Delta(δ) cDNA clones were hybridized to RNA extracted from livers of chimpanzees infected with the blood‐borne Non‐A, Non‐B hepatitis (NANBH) agent(s) and to total nucleic acids extracted from chimpanzee plasma containing a high titer of these NANBH agent(s). Since no hybridization was observed, the data suggests that the hepatitis Delta viral genome is not closely related to the genome(s) of the NANB agent(s). Our studies, in which the Hepatitis B virus genomic DNA was hybridized to hepatitis Delta cDNA clones, also confirm and extend previous studies [Hoyer et al, 1983], which report a lack of detectable homology between the hepatitis Delta genome and HBV DNA.