A novel hepatitis B virus subgenotype D10 circulating in Ethiopia.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is genetically highly divergent and classified in ten genotypes and forty subgenotypes in distinct ethno-geographic populations worldwide. Ethiopia is a country with high HBV prevalence; however, little is known about the genetic variability of HBV strains that circulate. Here, we characterize the complete genome of 29 HBV strains originating from five Ethiopian regions, by 454 deep sequencing and Sanger sequencing. Phylogenetically, ten strains were classified as genotype A1 and nineteen as genotype D. Fifteen genotype D strains, provisionally named subgenotype D10, showed a novel distinct cluster supported by high bootstrap value and >4% nucleotide divergence from other known subgenotypes. In addition, the novel D10 strains harboured nine unique amino acid signatures in the surface, polymerase and X genes. Seventy-two per cent of the genotype D strains had the precore premature stop codon G1896A. In addition, 63% genotype A and 33% genotype D strains had the basal core promoter mutations, A1762T/G1764A. Furthermore, four pre-S deletion variants and two recombinants were identified in this study. In conclusion, we identified a novel HBV subgenotype D10 circulating in Ethiopia, underlining the high genetic variability of HBV strains in Africa.
Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Hundie
Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Stalin Raj
National blood bank services, Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Gebre Michael
Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Pas
Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Koopmans
Artemis One health, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Center for Infection Medicine and Zoonoses Research, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany.
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Osterhaus
ViroClinics BioScience BV, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Smits
Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Haagmans
D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D055815:Young Adult
D004279:DNA, Viral
Ethiopia; genetic variability; genotype and subgenotypes; hepatitis B virus; novel subgenotype D10