Patent ID: 8735063

Claim:
A method for determining a genotype and subtype of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) species present in a test sample, comprising: (a) amplifying a portion of the NS5b region of a HCV species present in a test sample with a mixture of degenerate oligonucleotide PCR primers comprising degenerate oligonucleotide sequences defined by the following formulas: SEQ ID NO: 6: 5′-TGG SBT TYK CNT AYG AYA CYM GNT G-3′; and SEQ ID NO: 9: 5′-GAR TAY CTV GTC ATR GCI TCY GTR AA-3′; (b) generating a nucleotide sequence of at least a portion of the amplified portion of the NS5b region with a mixture of degenerate oligonucleotide sequencing primers comprising degenerate oligonucleotide sequences defined by the following formulas: SEQ ID NO: 1: 5′-TAT GAY ACC CGC TGY TTY GAY TC-3′; and SEQ ID NO: 2: 5′-VGT CAT RGC ITC YGT RAA GGC TC-3′; and (c) correlating the nucleotide sequence determined in (b) with a subtype of one of HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, thereby determining the genotype and subtype of HCV species present in the test sample, wherein if an HCV species of any one of HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 is present in the test sample then the method amplifies a portion of the NS5b region and generates a nucleotide sequence of at least a portion of the NS5b region from said HCV species.