Origin and evolution of GBV-C/hepatitis G virus and relationships with ancient human migrations.
The GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) is a newly identified human RNA virus, belonging to the Flaviviridae family. Persistent infection by GBV-C/HGV is common in humans, and genetically divergent isolates have been identified in different parts of the world. Due to the absence of a real pathogenic role of GBV-C/HGV in liver disease and its extremely low mutation rate, this virus is a potential marker to trace prehistoric links between human populations. In this study, origin and evolution of GBV-C/HGV were examined using a set of fully sequenced strains of worldwide origin. A first phylogenetic analysis, addressed to the short (255 nucleotides) NS5A overlapping coding region by the neighbor-joining method, suggested an ancient African origin of GBV-C/HGV. This notion was confirmed when the same analysis was applied to the genomic regions showing the lowest rate of synonymous substitutions, covering one-fourth (2184 nucleotides) of the total coding potential of the virus genome. By using a multivariate statistical method and extending the analysis to the complete coding region, fine details of the evolutionary history of GBV-C/HGV were further elucidated. By this approach, isolates from Southeast Asia appeared to be the most closely related to those of African origin, consistent with a major route of ancient human migrations from Africa to southeastern parts of the Asian continent.
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Department of Evolutionary and Functional Biology, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, I-43100 Parma, Italy. maestri@unipr.it
D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins