State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
BMC Evol Biol. 2013 Jun 11;13:120. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-120.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important infectious agent that causes widespread concern because billions of people are infected by at least 8 different HBV genotypes worldwide. However, reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationship between HBV genotypes is difficult. Specifically, the phylogenetic relationships among genotypes A, B, and C are not clear from previous studies because of the confounding effects of genotype recombination. In order to clarify the evolutionary relationships, a rigorous approach is required that can effectively explore genetic sequences with recombination.
In the present study, phylogenetic relationship of the HBV genotypes was reconstructed using a consensus phylogeny of phylogenetic trees of HBV genome segments. Reliability of the reconstructed phylogeny was extensively evaluated in agreements of local phylogenies of genome segments.The reconstructed phylogenetic tree revealed that HBV genotypes B and C had a closer phylogenetic relationship than genotypes A and B or A and C. Evaluations showed the consensus method was capable to reconstruct reliable phylogenetic relationship in the presence of recombinants.
The consensus method implemented in this study provides an alternative approach for reconstructing reliable phylogenetic relationships for viruses with possible genetic recombination. Our approach revealed the phylogenetic relationships of genotypes A, B, and C of HBV.
乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)是一种重要的传染性病原体,引起了广泛关注,因为全球数十亿人至少感染了 8 种不同的 HBV 基因型。然而,HBV 基因型之间的系统发生关系重建具有一定难度。具体来说,由于基因型重组的混杂效应,以往的研究中 A、B 和 C 基因型之间的系统发生关系并不明确。为了阐明进化关系,需要采用一种能够有效探索具有重组的遗传序列的严谨方法。
本研究采用 HBV 基因组片段系统发生树共识树重建了 HBV 基因型的系统发生关系。通过对基因组片段局部系统发生的一致性评估,广泛评估了所重建系统发生树的可靠性。重建的系统发生树表明,HBV 基因型 B 和 C 比基因型 A 和 B 或 A 和 C 具有更密切的系统发生关系。评估表明,共识方法在存在重组的情况下能够重建可靠的系统发生关系。
本研究中实施的共识方法为可能存在遗传重组的病毒提供了一种重建可靠系统发生关系的替代方法。我们的方法揭示了 HBV 基因型 A、B 和 C 的系统发生关系。