Avihepadnavirus

Abstract: A virus given the name ground squirrel hepatitis virus (or GSHV), with many of the unique characteristics of human hepatitis B virus (HBV), has been found in Beechey ground squirrels in northern California. Common features include virus morphology, viral DNA size and structure, a virion DNA polymerase that repairs a single-stranded region in the viral DNA, crossreacting viral antigens, and persistent infection with viral antigen continuously in the blood. Although similar, GSHV and HBV Are not identical. The ground squirrel virion has a slightly greater diameter, the viral surface antigens crossreact only partially and, thus, are not identical, and GSHV DNA has two restriction endonuclease EcoRI cleavage sites in contrast to the single site in HBV DNA. Thus, GSHV is a member of the virus group that includes HBV and the virus recently found in woodchucks in the eastern United States and named woodchuck hepatitis virus. It is not yet known how closely the ground squirrel and woodchuck viruses are related.

Abstract: Primary duck hepatocytes were infected with a mutant duck hepatitis B virus defective in envelope protein but competent for viral DNA synthesis. Cells infected by this mutant accumulated higher levels of viral covalently closed, circular DNA (cccDNA) than those infected by wild-type virus. The accumulation of high levels of cccDNA was due to a failure of the mutant-infected cells to suppress de novo cccDNA synthesis compared with suppression by cells infected by the wild type. The envelope-defective virus failed to establish a persistent infection in vitro, possibly because of a virus-mediated cell death. Therefore, one or both viral envelope proteins are required for regulation of cccDNA synthesis and for maintenance of persistent infection in vitro.

Abstract: The nucleotide sequence of an EcoRI duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) clone was elucidated by using the Maxam and Gilbert method. This sequence, which is 3,021 nucleotides long, was compared with the two previously analyzed hepatitis B-like viruses (human and woodchuck). From this comparison, it was shown that DHBV is derived from an ancestor common to the two others but has a slightly different genomic organization. There was no intergenic region between genes 5 and 8, which were fused into a single open reading frame in DHBV. Genes for the surface and core proteins were assigned to open reading frames 7 and 5/8. Amino acid comparisons showed some structural relationship between gene 6 product and avian reverse transcriptase, suggesting either evolution from a common ancestor or convergence to some particular structure to fulfill a specific function. This should be correlated with the synthesis of an RNA intermediate during DNA replication. This is also taken as an argument in favor of the hypothesis that gene 6 codes for the DNA polymerase that is found within the virion. DNA sequence comparison also showed that the two mammalian hepatitis B viruses are more homologous to each other than they are to DHBV, indicating that DHBV starts to evolve on its own earlier than the two other viruses, as do birds compared with mammals. From this it is proposed that the viruses evolved in a fashion parallel to the species they infect.