Despite significant progress in hepatitis C (HCV) treatment, global viral eradication remains a challenge. An in-depth map of its genome diversity within the context of structural and immunological constraints could contribute to the design of pan-genotypic antivirals and preventive vaccines. For such analyses, extensive information is only available for the highly prevalent HCV genotypes (GT) 1a and 1b. Using 647 GT1a and 408 GT1b full-genome sequences obtained from the Los Alamos database, we found that respectively 3 per cent and 82 per cent of all codon positions are under positive and negative selective pressure, suggesting variation mainly accumulates due to random genetic drift. An association between conservation and both structured RNA and secondary protein structures confirmed the important role of structural elements at nucleotide and at amino acid level. Remarkably, CD8+ T-cell epitopes in HCV GT1a were significantly more conserved, while at the same time containing more sites under positive selection. Similarly, CD4+ T-cell epitopes were significantly more conserved in both HCV subtypes, but under less positive selective pressure in GT1b and more negative selective pressure in GT1a. In contrast, B-cell epitopes in both subtypes were less conserved and under less stringent negative selection. These findings argue against immune selective pressure as the main force of between-host diversifying evolution. Despite its high variability, HCV is under strict evolutionary constraints, most probably to keep its genes and proteins functional during the replication cycle. These are encouraging findings for vaccine and drug design, which could consider these newly established genetic diversity profiles.
Keywords: HCV GT1a and GT1b; RNA structure; T- and B-cell epitopes; conservation; protein secondary structure; selective pressure.