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Novel hepatitis D-like agents in vertebrates and invertebrates

Wei-Shan Chang, John H.-O. Pettersson, Callum Le Lay, Mang Shi, Nathan Lo, Michelle Wille, John-Sebastian Eden, View ORCID ProfileEdward Holmes
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/539924
Wei-Shan Chang
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: wcha8651@uni.sydney.edu.au
John H.-O. Pettersson
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: john.pettersson@gmail.com
Callum Le Lay
1 The University of Sydney;
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Mang Shi
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: mang.shi@sydney.edu.au
Nathan Lo
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: nathan.lo@sydney.edu.au
Michelle Wille
2 The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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  • For correspondence: michelle.wille@influenzacentre.org
John-Sebastian Eden
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: js.eden@sydney.edu.au
Edward Holmes
1 The University of Sydney;
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  • For correspondence: edward.holmes@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is the smallest known RNA virus and encodes a single protein. Until recently, HDV had only been identified in humans, where it is strongly associated with co-infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, the recent discovery of HDV-like viruses in metagenomic samples from birds and snakes suggests that this virus has a far longer evolutionary history. Herein, using additional meta-transcriptomic data, we show that highly divergent HDV-like viruses are also present in fish, amphibians and invertebrates. Notably, the novel viruses identified here share HDV-like genomic features such as a small genome size of ~1.7kb in length, circular genomes, and self-complementary, unbranched rod-like structures. Coiled-coil domains, leucine zippers, conserved residues with essential biological functions and isoelectronic points similar to those in the human hepatitis delta virus antigens (HDAgs) were also identified in the putative non-human HDAgs. Notably, none of these novel HDV-like viruses were associated with hepadnavirus infection, supporting the idea that the HDV-HBV association may be specific to humans. Collectively, these data not only broaden our understanding of the diversity and host range of HDV in non-human species, but shed light on its origin and evolutionary history.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 04, 2019.
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Novel hepatitis D-like agents in vertebrates and invertebrates
Wei-Shan Chang, John H.-O. Pettersson, Callum Le Lay, Mang Shi, Nathan Lo, Michelle Wille, John-Sebastian Eden, Edward Holmes
bioRxiv 539924; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/539924
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Novel hepatitis D-like agents in vertebrates and invertebrates
Wei-Shan Chang, John H.-O. Pettersson, Callum Le Lay, Mang Shi, Nathan Lo, Michelle Wille, John-Sebastian Eden, Edward Holmes
bioRxiv 539924; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/539924

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