delta Agent: association of delta antigen with hepatitis B surface antigen and RNA in serum of delta-infected chimpanzees.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The hepatitis B virus-associated .beta. antigen was found in the serum of experimentally infected chimpanzees as an internal component of a discrete subpopulation of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) particles. The 35-37 nm particles banded in CsCl at 1.24-1.25 g/cm3 and sedimented with a mobility intermediate between that of the hepatitis B virion and that of the 22 nm form of HbsAg [hepatitis B surface antigen]. The particles contained only indistinct internal structure by EM and were not unique to .delta. agent infection, similar particles without .delta.-antigen activity being observed in the preinfection serum of HBsAg carrier chimpanzees. A small RNA (MW, 5 .times. 105) was temporally associated with .delta. antigen in the serum of infected chimpanzees and copurified with the .delta.-antigen-associated particles. This RNA is smaller than the genomes of known RNA viruses but larger than the viroids of higher plants.