Molecular characterization of the Hepatitis B virus genotypes in Colombia: a Bayesian inference on the genotype F.
Hepatitis B is a worldwide health problem affecting about 2 billion people and more than 350 million are chronic carriers of the virus. Nine HBV genotypes (A to I) have been described. The geographical distribution of HBV genotypes is not completely understood due to the limited number of samples from some parts of the world. One such example is Colombia, in which few studies have described the HBV genotypes. In this study, we characterized HBV genotypes in 143 HBsAg-positive volunteer blood donors from Colombia. A fragment of 1306 bp partially comprising HBsAg and the DNA polymerase coding regions (S/POL) was amplified and sequenced. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were conducted using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to obtain the maximum clade credibility (MCC) tree using BEAST v.1.5.3. Of all samples, 68 were positive and 52 were successfully sequenced. Genotype F was the most prevalent in this population (77%) - subgenotypes F3 (75%) and F1b (2%). Genotype G (7.7%) and subgenotype A2 (15.3%) were also found. Genotype G sequence analysis suggests distinct introductions of this genotype in the country. Furthermore, we estimated the time of the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for each HBV/F subgenotype and also for Colombian F3 sequences using two different datasets: (i) 77 sequences comprising 1306 bp of S/POL region and (ii) 283 sequences comprising 681 bp of S/POL region. We also used two other previously estimated evolutionary rates: (i) 2.60 × 10(-4)s/s/y and (ii) 1.5 × 10(-5)s/s/y. Here we report the HBV genotypes circulating in Colombia and estimated the TMRCA for the four different subgenotypes of genotype F.
Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, São Paulo Institute of Tropical Medicine and Department of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil. monica.viviana@usp.br
Mónica Viviana
MV
Alvarado Mora
Camila Malta
CM
Romano
Michele Soares
MS
Gomes-Gouvêa
Maria Fernanda
MF
Gutierrez
Livia
L
Botelho
Flair José
FJ
Carrilho
João Renato Rebello
JR
Pinho
D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003105:Colombia; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny
D004279:DNA, Viral