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.

Orthohepadnavirus (mammalian hosts) and avihepadnavirus (avian hosts) constitute the family of Hepadnaviridae and differ by their capability and inability for expression of protein X, respectively. Origin and functions of X are unclear. The evolutionary analysis at issue of X indicates that present strains of orthohepadnavirus started to diverge about 25,000 years ago, simultaneously with the o...

Naturally Occurring WHV Infection and Other Mammalian and Avian Hepadnaviruses The hepatitis B virus (HBV) of humans and great apes is the prototype of the family Hepadnaviridae, a group hepatotropic DNA viruses that infect several mammalian (Genus: Orthohepadnavirus) and avian (Genus: Avihepadnavirus) species. The second member of the hepadnavirus family, WHV, was identified in the Eastern woo...

Bats are reservoir animals harboring many important pathogenic viruses and with the capability of transmitting these to humans and other animals. To establish an effective surveillance to monitor transboundary spread of bat viruses between Myanmar and China, complete organs from the thorax and abdomen from 853 bats of six species from two Myanmar counties close to Yunnan province, China, were c...

We describe the identification and functional analysis of an evolutionary distinct new avian hepadnavirus. Infection of snow geese (Anser caerulescens) with a duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV)-related virus, designated SGHBV, was demonstrated by detection of envelope proteins in sera with anti-DHBV preS and S antibodies. Comparative sequence analysis of the PCR-amplified SGHBV genomes revealed uniq...

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the prototype member of a family of hepatotropic DNA viruses, the Hepadnaviridae, that replicate by reverse transcription of an RNA pregenome. HBV infects humans, whereas other hepadnaviruses infect mammals (orthohepadnaviruses) or birds (avihepadnaviruses) (Schaefer, 2007a). HBV comprises eight genotypes (A to H) with distinct virological characteristics and geog...

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the prototype member of a family of hepatotropic DNA viruses, the Hepadnaviridae, that replicate by reverse transcription of an RNA pregenome. HBV infects humans, whereas other hepadnaviruses infect mammals (orthohepadnaviruses) or birds (avihepadnaviruses) (Schaefer, 2007a). HBV comprises eight genotypes (A to H) with distinct virological characteristics and geog...