title: A new isolate of hepatitis B virus from the Philippines possibly representing a new subgenotype C6.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and subgenotypes show distinct geographical prevalence. A genotyping analysis of 28 samples from asymptomatic HBV carriers from the Philippines gave a distribution of HBV genotypes as expected from a previous study: 54% B (15/28), C5 18% (5/28), 14% D (4/28), 7% A1 (2/28). In addition, 7% (2/28) of the samples showed a double infection with genotypes B and D. One of the isolates sequenced completely, ph105, did not group into one of the known subgenotypes after phylogenetic analysis. Ph105 formed a separate clade in genotype C. With a genome length of 3,215 nt. and a serological subtype adr, ph105 exhibited the main features of most genotype C strains. However, ph105 differed by 4.1-7.2% from HBV subgenotypes C1 to C5 when comparing the nucleotide sequence of whole genomes. With only 4.1% difference ph105 was most closely related to subgenotype C2. SimPlot analysis gave no indication for recombination with known HBV genotypes. Ph105 fulfils all criteria for a new subgenotype C6.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Lolita
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavinta
authors.forename: Jianguang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Meltzer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radtke
authors.forename: Nina G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Barzaga
authors.forename: Guangwen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schaefer
mesh_terms: D002353:Carrier State / Q000821:virology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010679:Philippines; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral