METHODS FOR DETECTING AND ADJUSTING REPLICATION OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS AND FOR PREPARING MUTATED VIRUS STRAINS WITH ALTERED REPLICATION EFFICIENCY

摘要

The invention provides methods to assay and regulate the replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV), employing methods of generating HBV replication mutants. Based on the polymerase gene of HBV strains, various primers were designed, and by using restriction enzymes and polymerase chain reaction, fragments of the polymerase gene were substituted, and the replicative competency of the newly constructed recombinant polymerase gene was analyzed. This invention can be used to look for new functional domains in the polymerase and for designing anti-HBV replicating drugs and diagnostic reagents.