Ling'en Yanga, Jianmin Wu, Tingsong Hu, Shaomin Qin, Bo Deng, Jinfeng Liu,Fuqiang Zhang, Biao Hea, Changchun Tu

Abstract  The orthohepadnaviruses, which include the major human pathogen hepatitis B virus, exist in a wide range of hosts. Since 2013, a large group of orthohepadnaviruses has been identified in bats worldwide and classified as 4 species within the genus Orthohepadnavirus. To further investigate orthohepadnaviruses in the Chinese bat population, 554 archived bat samples from 20 colonies covering 3 southern provinces were screened with results showing that 9 (1.6%) were positive. A systematic phylogenetic analysis has indicated the need for a new nomenclature for bat hepatitis B virus-like viruses: BtHBV, with the addition of 3 new species, one being divided into 6 genotypes. Viruses identified here shared 9.0–19.2% full genome divergence and classified into 3 different genotypes. This study illustrates the genetic diversity of orthohepadnaviruses in the Chinese bat population, and emphasizes need for further investigation of their public health significance.
Keywords:Bats,Orthohepadnavirus,Genetic diversity,Nomenclature
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2018.05.024