Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/23535
Type
ArticleCopyright
Restricted access
Embargo date
2030-01-01
Collections
- IOC - Artigos de Periódicos [12725]
Metadata
Show full item record
HETEROGENEOUS RECOMBINATION AMONG HEPATITIS B VIRUS GENOTYPES
Affilliation
Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. Porto, Portugal / Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Patologia Molecular e Imunologia. Porto, Portugal.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Virologia Molecular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. Porto, Portugal / Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Patologia Molecular e Imunologia. Porto, Portugal / University of Vigo. Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology. Vigo, Spain.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Virologia Molecular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. Porto, Portugal / Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Patologia Molecular e Imunologia. Porto, Portugal / University of Vigo. Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology. Vigo, Spain.
Abstract
The rapid evolution of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) through both evolutionary forces, mutation and recombination, allows this virus to generate a large variety of adapted variants at both intra and inter-host levels. It can, for instance, generate drug resistance or the diverse viral genotypes that currently exist in the HBV epidemics. Concerning the latter, it is known that recombination played a major role in the emergence and genetic diversification of novel genotypes. In this regard, the quantification of viral recombination in each genotype can provide relevant information to devise expectations about the evolutionary trends of the epidemic. Here we measured the amount of this evolutionary force by estimating global and local recombination rates in >4700 HBV complete genome sequences corresponding to nine (A to I) HBV genotypes. Counterintuitively, we found that genotype E presents extremely high levels of recombination, followed by genotypes B and C. On the other hand, genotype G presents the lowest level, where recombination is almost negligible. We discuss these findings in the light of known characteristics of these genotypes. Additionally, we present a phylogenetic network to depict the evolutionary history of the studied HBV genotypes. This network clearly classified all genotypes into specific groups and indicated that diverse pairs of genotypes are derived from a common ancestor (i.e., C-I, D-E and, F-H) although still the origin of this virus presented large uncertainty. Altogether we conclude that the amount of observed recombination is heterogeneous among HBV genotypes and that this heterogeneity can influence on the future expansion of the epidemic.
Share