HAV 2C

Hepatitis A virus (HAV), classified as hepatovirus, is a small, unenveloped symmetrical RNA virus which shares many of the characteristics of the picornavirus family, and is the cause of infectious or epidemic hepatitis transmitted by the fecal-oral route. HAV proteins are cleaved from a large polyprotein (PO), but the processing and some products are quite different. The 3C protein is the sole processing enzyme, and the primary cleavage takes place at the 2A/2B site. Several VP1-2A sites are proposed. In some strains, the intermediate VP1-2A polypeptides are assembled in the virion. The VP4 is very small and not detected in the mature virion. Some mutations in 2B, 2C and 3A proteins are identified to enhance viral replication or to induce cytopathogenic effects in the viruses adapted to cell cultures.