Ancient hepatitis B viruses from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period

Barbara Mühlemann, Terry C. Jones, Peter de Barros Damgaard, Morten E. Allentoft, Irina Shevnina, Andrey Logvin, Emma Usmanova, Irina P. Panyushkina, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Tsevel Bazartseren, Kadicha Tashbaeva, Victor Merz, Nina Lau, Václav Smrčka, Dmitry Voyakin, Egor Kitov, Andrey Epimakhov, Dalia Pokutta, Magdolna Vicze, T. Douglas Price, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Anders J. Hansen, Ludovic Orlando, Simon Rasmussen, Martin Sikora, Lasse Vinner, Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus, Derek J. Smith, Dieter Glebe, Ron A. M. Fouchier, Christian Drosten, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Kristian Kristiansen and Eske Willerslev ()
Additional contact information
Barbara Mühlemann: University of Cambridge
Terry C. Jones: University of Cambridge
Peter de Barros Damgaard: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Morten E. Allentoft: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Irina Shevnina: A. A. Baitursynov Kostanay State University
Andrey Logvin: A. A. Baitursynov Kostanay State University
Emma Usmanova: Karaganda State University
Irina P. Panyushkina: University of Arizona
Bazartseren Boldgiv: School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia
Tsevel Bazartseren: Mongolian University of Life Sciences
Kadicha Tashbaeva: National Academy of Sciences
Victor Merz: Pavlodar State University
Nina Lau: Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology
Václav Smrčka: Charles University
Dmitry Voyakin: Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Egor Kitov: Russian Academy of Sciences
Andrey Epimakhov: South Ural State University
Dalia Pokutta: Stockholm University
Magdolna Vicze: Matrica Museum
T. Douglas Price: University of Gothenburg
Vyacheslav Moiseyev: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
Anders J. Hansen: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Ludovic Orlando: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Simon Rasmussen: Technical University of Denmark
Martin Sikora: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Lasse Vinner: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus: University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover
Derek J. Smith: University of Cambridge
Dieter Glebe: Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Ron A. M. Fouchier: Erasmus Medical Centre
Christian Drosten: Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Karl-Göran Sjögren: University of Gothenburg
Kristian Kristiansen: University of Gothenburg
Eske Willerslev: Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen

Nature, 2018, vol. 557, issue 7705, 418-423

Abstract: Abstract Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of human hepatitis. There is considerable uncertainty about the timescale of its evolution and its association with humans. Here we present 12 full or partial ancient HBV genomes that are between approximately 0.8 and 4.5 thousand years old. The ancient sequences group either within or in a sister relationship with extant human or other ape HBV clades. Generally, the genome properties follow those of modern HBV. The root of the HBV tree is projected to between 8.6 and 20.9 thousand years ago, and we estimate a substitution rate of 8.04 × 10−6–1.51 × 10−5 nucleotide substitutions per site per year. In several cases, the geographical locations of the ancient genotypes do not match present-day distributions. Genotypes that today are typical of Africa and Asia, and a subgenotype from India, are shown to have an early Eurasian presence. The geographical and temporal patterns that we observe in ancient and modern HBV genotypes are compatible with well-documented human migrations during the Bronze and Iron Ages1,2. We provide evidence for the creation of HBV genotype A via recombination, and for a long-term association of modern HBV genotypes with humans, including the discovery of a human genotype that is now extinct. These data expose a complexity of HBV evolution that is not evident when considering modern sequences alone.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0097-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:557:y:2018:i:7705:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0097-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0097-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().