A Putative Novel Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 3 Subtype Identified in Rabbit, Germany 2016

Cierniak, Filip; von Arnim, Felicitas; Heckel, Gerald; Ulrich, Rainer G.; Groschup, Martin H.; Eiden, Martin (2021). A Putative Novel Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 3 Subtype Identified in Rabbit, Germany 2016. Viruses, 13(6), p. 1065. MDPI 10.3390/v13061065

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Hepatitis E is an emerging viral disease that is the leading cause of viral hepatitis in the world. The vast majority of hepatitis E cases in developed countries are caused by zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4 of hepatitis E virus (HEV) for which pig and wild boar and to lesser extent rabbits are the main reservoir. According to recent reports rabbits are a source of human HEV infection and highlight the risk of zoonotic foodborne transmission. Here we report the molecular analysis of a novel HEV strain identified in a rabbit during a countrywide surveillance of rabbits and hares in Germany, 2016. The analysis of the complete genome reveals characteristics of a putative novel recombinant subtype of the species Orthohepevirus A within the clade of genotype 3 but not closely related to any known subtypes. Importantly, the genome of this strain possesses a nucleotide exchange in the overlapping region of open reading frames ORF2/ORF3 interfering with a broadly applied diagnostic real-time RT-PCR. In conclusion, a new type of HEV strain was identified in a German rabbit with atypical and novel sequence characteristics.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Population Genetics

UniBE Contributor:

Heckel, Gerald

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

1999-4915

Publisher:

MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

Susanne Holenstein

Date Deposited:

01 Feb 2022 11:46

Last Modified:

07 Aug 2024 15:45

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/v13061065

PubMed ID:

34205182

Uncontrolled Keywords:

hepatitis E virus; novel genotype; rabbit

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/161790

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/161790

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