{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,6]],"date-time":"2026-06-06T14:16:29Z","timestamp":1780755389611,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]],"date-time":"2022-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1663718400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Boehringer Ingelheim (NVSS fellowship, Stone)"},{"name":"CSU intramural funds (VandeWoude)"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Hepadnaviruses are partially double-stranded DNA viruses that infect a variety of species. The prototypical virus in this family is the human hepatitis B virus, which chronically infects approximately 400 million people worldwide and is a risk factor for progressive liver disease and liver cancer. The first hepadnavirus isolated from carnivores was a domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH), initially identified in Australia and subsequently detected in cats in Europe and Asia. As with all characterized hepadnaviruses so far, DCH infection has been associated with hepatic disease in its host. Prevalence of this infection in the United States has not been explored broadly. Thus, we utilized conventional and quantitative PCR to screen several populations of domestic cats to estimate DCH prevalence in the United States. We detected DCH DNA in 1 out of 496 animals (0.2%) in the U.S. cohort. In contrast, we detected circulating DCH DNA in 7 positive animals from a cohort of 67 domestic cats from Australia (10.4%), consistent with previous studies. The complete consensus genome of the U.S. DCH isolate was sequenced by Sanger sequencing with overlapping PCR products. An in-frame deletion of 157 bp was identified in the N-terminus of the core open reading frame. The deletion begins at the direct repeat 1 sequence (i.e., the 5\u2032 end of the expected double-stranded linear DNA form), consistent with covalently closed circular DNA resultant from illegitimate recombination described in other hepadnaviruses. Comparative genome sequence analysis indicated that the closest described relatives of the U.S. DCH isolate are those previously isolated in Italy. Motif analysis supports DCH using NTCP as an entry receptor, similar to human HBV. Our work indicates that chronic DCH prevalence in the U.S. is likely low compared to other countries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v14102091","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,23]],"date-time":"2022-09-23T04:07:07Z","timestamp":1663906027000},"page":"2091","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":27,"title":["Prevalence and Genomic Sequence Analysis of Domestic Cat Hepadnavirus in the United States"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Cassidy","family":"Stone","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4508-4362","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raegan","family":"Petch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4901-5081","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roderick B.","family":"Gagne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA"},{"name":"Wildlife Futures Program, Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mary","family":"Nehring","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0482-4387","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Tu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Storr Liver Centre, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead Hospital, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2145, Australia"},{"name":"University of Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6520-7801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia A.","family":"Beatty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Animal Health and Welfare, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9227-1622","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sue","family":"VandeWoude","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aghazadeh, M., Shi, M., Barrs, V.R., McLuckie, A.J., Lindsay, S.A., Jameson, B., Hampson, B., Holmes, E.C., and Beatt, J.A. 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