title: Characteristics of hepatitis B virus in Ghana: full length genome sequences indicate the endemicity of genotype E in West Africa.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes from A to H have distinct geographical distributions and have been shown to affect the clinical features as well as the course of the HBV infection. HBV genotype E has been found only in Africa. However, the complete genomes of this genotype, which were isolated mainly from West Africa, were available only for a few samples. In this study, five full-length genomes and seven other small S genes of HBV strains from Ghanaian blood donors were sequenced and investigated. Following phylogenetic analysis, all of the Ghanaian HBV strains were clustered closely in genotype E. All of the 12 small S genes showed the same characteristic of subtype ayw4. The complete genomes of the five Ghanaian strains showed marked similarity with each other and with the reported genotype E strains (96.7%-99.1%). Genotype E strains showed low intra-genotypic diversity (1.8%) and carried the conserved signature pattern in pre-S1 as well as in the full genome sequence. Of note, the finding of the G145R escape mutant in an unvaccinated Ghanaian blood donor might raise concern as to the ongoing nation-wide hepatitis B vaccination program in Ghana.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tran Thien Tuan
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Huy
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ampofo
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Justina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ansah
authors.forename: John O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Tetteh
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nii-Trebi
authors.forename: Simeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aidoo
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ofori-Adjei
authors.forename: Tetsutaro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sata
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ushijima
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors; D005814:Genes, Viral; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005869:Ghana; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C118669:S envelope protein, hepatitis B virus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins