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Detection of Low Copy Number Integrated Viral DNA Formed by In Vitro Hepatitis B Infection
Published on: November 7, 2018
Bat hepadnaviruses and the origins of primate hepatitis B viruses
Andrea Rasche1, Breno Frederico de Carvalho Dominguez Souza2, Jan Felix Drexler3
1Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
Abstract:
The origin of primate HBV (family Hepadnaviridae) is unknown. Hepadnaviruses are ancient pathogens and may have been associated with old mammalian lineages like bats for prolonged time. Indeed, the genetic diversity of bat hepadnaviruses exceeds that of extant hepadnaviruses in other host orders, suggesting a long evolution of hepadnaviruses in bats. Strikingly, a recently detected New World bat hepadnavirus is antigenically related to HBV and can infect human hepatocytes. Together with genetically diverse hepadnaviruses from New World rodents and a non-human primate, these viruses argue for a New World origin of ancestral orthohepadnaviruses. Multiple host switches of bat and primate viruses are evident and bats are likely sources of ancestral hepadnaviruses acquired by primates.
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