scholarly journals Genetic identification and characterization of a novel virus related to human hepatitis E virus from chickens with hepatitis–splenomegaly syndrome in the United States

2001 ◽  
Vol 82 (10) ◽  
pp. 2449-2462 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Haqshenas ◽  
H. L. Shivaprasad ◽  
P. R. Woolcock ◽  
D. H. Read ◽  
X. J. Meng

Hepatitis–splenomegaly (HS) syndrome is an emerging disease in chickens in North America; the cause of this disease is unknown. In this study, the genetic identification and characterization of a novel virus related to human hepatitis E virus (HEV) isolated from bile samples of chickens with HS syndrome is reported. Based upon the similar genomic organization and significant sequence identity of this virus with HEV, the virus has been tentatively named avian HEV in order to distinguish it from human and swine HEV. Electron microscopy revealed that avian HEV is a non-enveloped virus particle of 30–35 nm in diameter. The sequence of the 3′ half of the viral genome (∼4 kb) was determined. Sequence analyses revealed that this genomic region contains the complete 3′ non-coding region, the complete genes from open reading frames (ORFs) 2 and 3, the complete RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene and a partial helicase gene from ORF 1. The helicase gene is the most conserved gene between avian HEV and other HEV strains, displaying 58–61% aa and 57–60% nt sequence identities. The RdRp gene of avian HEV shares 47–50% aa and 52–53% nt sequence identities and the putative capsid gene (ORF 2) of avian HEV shares 48–49% aa and 48–51% nt sequence identities with the corresponding regions of other known HEV strains. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that avian HEV is genetically related to, but distinct from, other known HEV strains. This discovery has important implications for HEV animal models, nomenclature and natural history.

Virus Genes ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 738-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun-Woo Moon ◽  
Byung-Woo Lee ◽  
Haan Woo Sung ◽  
Byung-Il Yoon ◽  
Hyuk Moo Kwon

2014 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Lin ◽  
Heléne Norder ◽  
Henrik Uhlhorn ◽  
Sándor Belák ◽  
Frederik Widén

A novel virus was detected in a sample collected from a Swedish moose (Alces alces). The virus was suggested as a member of the Hepeviridae family, although it was found to be highly divergent from the known four genotypes (gt1–4) of hepatitis E virus (HEV). Moose are regularly hunted for consumption in the whole of Scandinavia. Thus, the finding of this virus may be important from several aspects: (a) as a new diverged HEV in a new animal species, and (b) potential unexplored HEV transmission pathways for human infections. Considering these aspects, we have started the molecular characterization of this virus. A 5.1 kb amplicon was sequenced, and corresponded to the partial ORF1, followed by complete ORF2, ORF3 and poly(A) sequence. In comparison with existing HEVs, the moose HEV genome showed a general nucleotide sequence similarity of 37–63 % and an extensively divergent putative ORF3 sequence. The junction region between the ORFs was also highly divergent; however, two putative secondary stem–loop structures were retained when compared to gt1–4, but with altered structural appearance. In the phylogenetic analysis, the moose HEV deviated and formed its own branch between the gt1–4 and other divergent animal HEVs. The characterization of this highly divergent genome provides important information regarding the diversity of HEV infecting various mammalian species. However, further studies are needed to investigate its prevalence in the moose populations and possibly in other host species, including the risk for human infection.


Virology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 288 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihong Meng ◽  
Xing Dai ◽  
Joy C. Chang ◽  
Elena Lopareva ◽  
Jacques Pillot ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. e0184947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Wang ◽  
Weidong Zhang ◽  
Honglang Gu ◽  
Wanli Chen ◽  
Meng Zeng ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 163 (5) ◽  
pp. 1345-1349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Putu Prathiwi Primadharsini ◽  
Mulyanto ◽  
I. Dewa Nyoman Wibawa ◽  
Joko Anggoro ◽  
Tsutomu Nishizawa ◽  
...  

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