A Divergent Hepatitis D-Like Agent in Birds
by
Michelle Wille 1,*
, Hans J. Netter 2, Margaret Littlejohn 2, Lilly Yuen 2, Mang Shi 3, John-Sebastian Eden 3, Marcel Klaassen 4, Edward C. Holmes 3 and Aeron C. Hurt 1
Michelle Wille 1,*, Hans J. Netter 2, Margaret Littlejohn 2, Lilly Yuen 2, Mang Shi 3, John-Sebastian Eden 3, Marcel Klaassen 4, Edward C. Holmes 3 and Aeron C. Hurt 1
1
WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
2
Molecular Research and Development, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
3
Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
4
Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Viruses 2018, 10(12), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120720
Received: 9 November 2018 / Revised: 28 November 2018 / Accepted: 9 December 2018 / Published: 17 December 2018
(This article belongs to the Section Animal Viruses)
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.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
co-evolution; dabbling duck; hepatitis D virus; phylogeny
▼
Show Figures
Graphical abstract
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- Supplementary File 1:
PDF-Document (PDF, 903 KB)
MDPI and ACS Style
Wille, M.; Netter, H.J.; Littlejohn, M.; Yuen, L.; Shi, M.; Eden, J.-S.; Klaassen, M.; Holmes, E.C.; Hurt, A.C. A Divergent Hepatitis D-Like Agent in Birds. Viruses 2018, 10, 720.
Show more citation formats
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
