Abstract
BackgroundHepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health problem. The infectious virion contains an inner “core particle”, which is made of 180 or 240 copies of core protein, alternatively known as hepatitis B core antigen, or HBcAg which encloses the viral genome.MethodIn this study, we characterized HBV genotypes and used Bayesian analyses to estimate date of emergence of the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of three HBV genotypes, A, B, and D.ResultsWe estimated that the rate of evolution of HBV core protein gene to be 1.127 (0.925–1.329, 95% HPD) substitutions per site per year. The TMRCA of HBV for genotypes A, B, D were 118 (54–194, 95% HPD) year, 184 (78–323, 95% HPD) year and 133 (65–230, 95% HPD) year, respectively. Demographic histories of the HBcAg gene showed that the relative genetic diversity had a sharp increase within the first 10 years of its emergence.ConclusionUsing a bayesian evolutionary method to predict the outbreak trends of HBV through evolutionary trees of HBV, and provide theoretical foundations for clinical prevention and treatment of HBV.
Highlights
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health problem
Bayesian MCMC evolutionary analyses After the the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) was done with BEAST 1.6, convergence was inspected using Tracer v1.6, with uncertainties addressed as 95% HPD intervals
We undertook to study the evolution of HBV by analyzing these three genotypes
Summary
HBV is a genus of DNA viruses which infects the humans causing acute and chronic hepatitis [1]. There have been many studies on HBV genotypes and their clinical relationships. It has been shown that HBV genotypes reflect the natural heterogeneity between virus strains more accurately than serotypes. There are ten different HBV genotypes (A-J) whose prevalences are variably distributed geographically [4]. HBV is characterized by high rates of replication (1012-13 virions/day), and high rates of mutation (1010-11 point mutation/day) which increase the likelihood of the appearance of conserved changes which can lead to the emergence of new genotypes. The various HBV genotypes are associated with differences in pathogenicity [5], disease progression [13] and responses to antiviral drugs [14]. We predicted the outbreak trends of HBV through evolutionary trees of HBV, and provide theoretical foundations for clinical prevention and treatment of HBV
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