Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 2, 2025

Detection of Low Copy Number Integrated Viral DNA Formed by In Vitro Hepatitis B Infection
Published on: November 7, 2018
Origins and Evolution of the Primate Hepatitis B Virus
Stephen A Locarnini1, Margaret Littlejohn1, Lilly K W Yuen1
1Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Abstract:
Recent interest in the origins and subsequent evolution of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) has strengthened with the discovery of ancient HBV sequences in fossilized remains of humans dating back to the Neolithic period around 7,000 years ago. Metagenomic analysis identified a number of African non-human primate HBV sequences in the oldest samples collected, indicating that human HBV may have at some stage, evolved in Africa following zoonotic transmissions from higher primates. Ancestral genotype A and D isolates were also discovered from the Bronze Age, not in Africa but rather Eurasia, implying a more complex evolutionary and migratory history for HBV than previously recognized. Most full-length ancient HBV sequences exhibited features of inter genotypic recombination, confirming the importance of recombination and the mutation rate of the error-prone viral replicase as drivers for successful HBV evolution. A model for the origin and evolution of HBV is proposed, which includes multiple cross-species transmissions and favors subsequent recombination events that result in a pathogen and can successfully transmit and cause persistent infection in the primate host.
Related Concept Videos
Retroviruses
Viral Mutations
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Viral Recombination
Retrovirus Life Cycles

