Identification of hepatitis B virus genome in faecal sample from wild living chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Gabon.
Non-invasive faecal sampling in the equatorial forest in Gabon allowed the first identification of the hepatitis B virus (HBV-Ch(RC170)) genome in samples collected from wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes). The HBV-Ch(RCl70)sequence clustered with 100% bootstrap support with previous viral sequences obtained from Pan troglodytes subspecies. This is the first evidence of HBV infection in wild apes and confirms that the HBV-like strains thus far characterized in captive apes are directly related to those circulating in the wild.
Makuwa
M
M
Laboratoire de Rétrovirologie, Centre International de Recherches Médicales, Franceville, Gabon. mmakuwa@yahoo.com
Souquière
S
S
Clifford
S L
SL
Mouinga-Ondeme
A
A
Bawe-Johnson
M
M
Wickings
E J
EJ
Latour
S
S
Simon
F
F
Roques
P
P
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology*; D005681:Gabon; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015613:Hepadnaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA