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A Divergent Hepatitis D-Like Agent in Birds
Michelle Wille1, Hans J Netter2, Margaret Littlejohn3
1WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia. michelle.wille@influenzacentre.org.
Abstract:
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is currently only found in humans and is a satellite virus that depends on hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope proteins for assembly, release, and entry. Using meta-transcriptomics, we identified the genome of a novel HDV-like agent in ducks. Sequence analysis revealed secondary structures that were shared with HDV, including self-complementarity and ribozyme features. The predicted viral protein shares 32% amino acid similarity to the small delta antigen of HDV and comprises a divergent phylogenetic lineage. The discovery of an avian HDV-like agent has important implications for the understanding of the origins of HDV and sub-viral agents.
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