klaassen-divergenthepatitis-2018.pdf (5 MB)
A divergent hepatitis D-like agent in birds
journal contribution
posted on 2018-12-17, 00:00 authored by Michelle Wille, Hans J Netter, Margaret Littlejohn, Lilly Yuen, Mang Shi, John-Sebastian Eden, Marcel KlaassenMarcel Klaassen, Edward C Holmes, Aeron C HurtHepatitis 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.