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Molecular identification and characterization of nonprimate hepaciviruses in equines

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Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the genus Hepacivirus, family Flaviviridae. Its genome has a length of 9.6 kb and encodes a single polyprotein flanked by two untranslated regions. HCV can cause liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and approximately 2% of the world’s population is chronically infected. The investigation of pathogenesis is complicated due to the lack of an animal model. The origin of this virus remains unclear, but in the last few years, relatives of HCV were initially identified in dogs and later in horses, rodents, bats and Old World monkeys. Non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV), which infects dogs and horses, is the closest relative to HCV. We established a pan-reactive “panHepaci”-RT-qPCR assay, which is able to detect human HCV as well as equine NPHV, and additionally, an equine-specific “equHepaci”-RT-qPCR for confirmation of positive results. Serum samples from 1158 clinically inconspicuous horses from Germany and several samples from other mammalian species were screened. We found 2.4% of the horses positive for hepacivirus RNA, and furthermore, the “panHepaci”-RT-qPCR assay also detected a hepacivirus in a donkey from Egypt. This virus had only 78% sequence identity in the E2 gene when compared to other known NPHVs. The established method could be useful for screening purposes, since it is likely that related hepaciviruses also occur in other species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Susanne Zahnow, Patrick Zitzow, Doreen Lange and Christian Korthase at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute for excellent technical assistance. We also thank Dr. Ahmed S. Abdel-Moneim, Dr. Shawky M. Aboelhadid and Dr. Ahmad E. Abdel-Ghany from Beni Suef University, Egypt, as well as Prof. Dr. Klaus Osterrieder from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, for providing serum samples. We thank Marhild Kortenbusch and Dr. Annemarie Berger from the Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Institute of Medical Virology, for providing the hepatitis C virus RNA.

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  1. Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Südufer 10, 17493, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany

    Kore Schlottau, Martin Beer & Bernd Hoffmann

  2. University of Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1, 1160, Wien, Austria

    Sasan Fereidouni

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  1. Kore Schlottau
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Correspondence to Bernd Hoffmann.

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Handling Editor: Michael A. Purdy.

The GenBank accession numbers of twelve equine NPHV complete coding regions sequences are MH027992, MH027993, MH027995, MH027996, MH027998- MH028002, MH028004, MH028005 and MH028007.

The GenBank accession numbers of four equine NPHV partial NS3 sequences are MH027994, MH027997 and MH028003.

The GenBank accession number of one equine NPHV partial polyprotein sequences is MH028006.

The GenBank accession numbers of the donkey NPHV partial E2 sequence is MH027991.

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Schlottau, K., Fereidouni, S., Beer, M. et al. Molecular identification and characterization of nonprimate hepaciviruses in equines. Arch Virol 164, 391–400 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-4077-2

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