title: Bat hepadnaviruses and the origins of primate hepatitis B viruses.
abstract: The origin of primate HBV (family Hepadnaviridae) is unknown. Hepadnaviruses are ancient pathogens and may have been associated with old mammalian lineages like bats for prolonged time. Indeed, the genetic diversity of bat hepadnaviruses exceeds that of extant hepadnaviruses in other host orders, suggesting a long evolution of hepadnaviruses in bats. Strikingly, a recently detected New World bat hepadnavirus is antigenically related to HBV and can infect human hepatocytes. Together with genetically diverse hepadnaviruses from New World rodents and a non-human primate, these viruses argue for a New World origin of ancestral orthohepadnaviruses. Multiple host switches of bat and primate viruses are evident and bats are likely sources of ancestral hepadnaviruses acquired by primates.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasche
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany; Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, University Hospital Professor Edgard Santos, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Breno Frederico de Carvalho Dominguez
authors.initials: BFCD
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany; German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Bonn-Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: drexler@virology-bonn.de.
authors.forename: Jan Felix
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Drexler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015613:Hepadnaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D058507:Host Specificity; D011323:Primates; D056189:Viral Tropism