Hepatitis Virus in Long-Fingered Bats, Myanmar

Biao He¹, Quanshui Fan¹, Fanli Yang, Tingsong Hu, Wei Qiu, Ye Feng, Zuosheng Li, Yingying Li, Fuqiang Zhang, Huancheng Guo, Xiaohuan Zou, and Changchun Tu

Author affiliations: Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Changchun, People’s Republic of China (B. He, F. Yang, Y. Feng, Y. Li, H. Guo, X. Zou, C. Tu); Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chengdu Military Region, Kunming, People’s Republic of China (Q. Fan, T. Hu, W. Qiu, Z. Li, F. Zhang)

Abstract

During an analysis of the virome of bats from Myanmar, a large number of reads were annotated to orthohepadnaviruses. We present the full genome sequence and a morphological analysis of an orthohepadnavirus circulating in bats. This virus is substantially different from currently known members of the genus Orthohepadnavirus and represents a new species.

The family Hepadnaviridae comprises 2 genera (Orthohepadnavirus and Avihepadnavirus), and viruses classified within these genera have a narrow host range. The genus Orthohepadnavirus consists of pathogens that infect mammals, and it currently contains 4 species: hepatitis B virus, woodchuck hepatitis virus, ground squirrel hepatitis virus, and woolly monkey hepatitis B virus. The genus Avihepadnavirus contains 2 avian species: duck hepatitis B virus and heron hepatitis B virus (1). Hepadnaviruses mainly infect the liver cells of their hosts and, in humans, cause hepatitis B, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (2). Approximately 2 billion persons worldwide are infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), and 600,000 persons die every year from the consequences of hepatitis B (3).
Bats are associated with an increasing number of emerging and reemerging viruses, many of which pose major threats to public health (4). We conducted a viral metagenomic analysis of 6 species of bats from Myanmar. The analysis revealed a large number of viral contigs annotated to orthohepadnavirus with <70 analysis="" and="" animals.="" by="" data="" describe="" full="" genomic="" he="" identity="" in="" morphologic="" nt="" observation.="" of="" orthohepadnaviruses="" p="" presence="" suggesting="" the="" these="" unpub.="" virus="" we="">