Age-related differences in amplification of covalently closed circular DNA at early times after duck hepatitis B virus infection of ducks.
Inoculation of 3-day-old (3D) or 3-week-old (3W) ducklings with duck hepatitis B virus results in chronic or transient infection, respectively. We previously showed that rapid production of neutralizing antibody following inoculation of 3W ducklings prevents virus from spreading in the liver and leads to a transient infection (Y.-Y. Zhang and J. Summers, J. Virol. 78:1195-1201, 2004). In this study we further investigated early events of viral infection in both 3D and 3W ducks. We present evidence that a lower level of virus replication in the hepatocytes of 3W birds is an additional factor that probably favors transient infection. We suggest that lower virus replication is due to a less rapid covalently closed circular DNA amplification, leading to lower viremias and a slower spread of infection in the liver, and that the slower spread of infection in 3W ducks makes the infection more sensitive to interruption by the host immune responses.
Zhang
Yong-Yuan
YY
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, 87131, USA. yzhang@salud.unm.edu
Theele
Daniel P
DP
Summers
Jesse
J
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004372:Ducks; D004371:Hepatitis Virus, Duck / Q000235:genetics; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000821:virology*; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D019562:Viral Load
D004270:DNA, Circular; D004279:DNA, Viral