Authors: Morten E. Allentoft; Kristian Kristiansen; Dalia Pokutta; Eske Willerslev; Vyacheslav Moiseyev; Kadicha Tashbaeva; Victor Merz; Ludovic Orlando; Anders J. Hansen; Andrey Logvin; Emma Usmanova; Irina Shevnina; Ron A. M. Fouchier; Barbara Mühlemann; Martin Sikora; Irina P. Panyushkina; Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus; Andrey Epimakhov; Karl-Göran Sjögren; Egor Kitov; Peter de Barros Damgaard; T Douglas Price; Derek J. Smith; Terry Jones; Simon Rasmussen; Nina Lau; Václav Smrčka; Magdolna Vicze; Tsevel Bazartseren; Bazartseren Boldgiv; Dmitry Voyakin; Dieter Glebe; Lasse Vinner; Christian Drosten

Venue: Nature

Type: Publication

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 esti... (read more)

DOI: 10.17863/cam.27106