Complete genome sequence of the novel duck hepatitis B virus strain SCP01 from Sichuan Cherry Valley duck

BACKGROUND: The duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) strain, designated SCP01, was isolated and identified from a Sichuan Cherry Valley duck in Southwestern China. To determine the origination and evolution of this isolated strain, we carried out complete genome sequencing of this strain. FINDINGS: Sequencing of the nucleotide sequence of DHBV strain SCP01 revealed a genome size of 3021 bp that contained three open reading frames, designated as C, S, and P, which were consistent with those of other duck hepatitis B viruses nucleotide sequences available in the GenBank of NCBI. Sequence comparisons based on the full-length genomic sequences showed that the DHBV SCP01 strain had the highest similarity (99.64 %) with the sequence of strain DHBV-XY, but had a lower similarity (90.04 %) with the sequence of strain DHBV CH5 isolated from Southwestern China. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the DHBV-XY and DHBV SCP01 formed a branch that was clearly distinct from the other strains. CONCLUSION: This study show that the DHBV SCP01 strain from Sichuan belonged to “Western” isolates, while the DHBV CH5 from Sichuan belonged to “Chinese” isolates. These data will promote further research into the evolutionary biology, epidemiology and pathobiology of hepadnavirus infections. In addition, continuing duck hepatitis B virus surveillance in poultry is critical to understand the patterns of DHBV infection, and to find further animal infection models to study HBV infection.