{"doi":"10.1093/ofid/ofaf616","title":"Whole-Genome Sequencing of Hepatitis B Virus Genotypes E and A in Zambia Reveals Limited Viral Diversity in HIV Coinfection","abstract":"Background: The molecular characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Africa, including the impact of HIV coinfection, are poorly understood. Methods: We performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on biospecimens collected before antiviral therapy in a well-characterized cohort of adults with HBV in Zambia, enriched for HIV coinfection (HBV/HIV). We assessed the frequency of basal core promoter (BCP) and precore variants, substitution frequencies, and the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (dN/dS ratios), a surrogate for selection pressure. Results: Among 215 participants (median age, 33 years; 36% e antigen [HBeAg] positive, 35% with HBV/HIV), 114 (53.0%) had viral genotype E (gtE), and 101 (47.0%) had genotype A (gtA), subgenotype 1. BCP and precore variants, associated with HBeAg negativity, were more common with increased age, in the absence of HIV, and with gtE. Distinct from gtA, gtE had dN/dS ratios that were increased in the core vs polymerase region. Low dN/dS ratios were observed in HBV/HIV, especially at the lowest CD4 T-cell frequencies. Sequences from acute HBV infection as well as from 5 participants with chronic HBV/HIV who cleared hepatitis B surface antigen early during tenofovir-based antiretroviral therapy showed remarkably low dN/dS ratios. Conclusions: HBV gtE exhibited distinct substitution patterns compared with gtA, and HBV/HIV was associated with reduced HBV sequence diversity, consistent with impaired immune pressure.","journal":"Open Forum Infectious Diseases","year":2025,"id":547282,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8771,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1325671,"name":"Andreas Walker","orcid":"0000-0002-8736-0863","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393584,"name":"Bright Nsokolo","orcid":"0000-0002-9338-0350","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1098672,"name":"Taonga Musonda","orcid":"0009-0008-9533-448X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":764937,"name":"Guy Muula","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":104141,"name":"Eleftherios Michailidis","orcid":"0000-0002-9907-4346","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364593,"name":"Gilles Wandeler","orcid":"0000-0002-5278-8763","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":612119,"name":"Nadia Alatrakchi","orcid":"0000-0001-7600-564X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":292863,"name":"Paul Kelly","orcid":"0000-0003-0844-6448","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1440131,"name":"Maximillian Damagnez","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":989008,"name":"Duyen Bao Le","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1440132,"name":"Anja Voges","orcid":null,"position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016765,"name":"Nadine Lübke","orcid":"0000-0003-3820-7915","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":394385,"name":"Annie Kanunga","orcid":null,"position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":413973,"name":"Samuel Bosomprah","orcid":"0000-0002-2826-3887","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":442329,"name":"Debika Bhattacharya","orcid":"0000-0002-2136-7763","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1440133,"name":"Carolyn Chibundi","orcid":null,"position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1440134,"name":"Given Bwalya","orcid":null,"position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":533160,"name":"Kalo Musukuma","orcid":"0000-0002-3620-6065","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1439722,"name":"Aleksei Suslov","orcid":"0000-0002-4774-9399","position":19,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1439723,"name":"Martin Feuerherd","orcid":"0000-0002-5272-6503","position":20,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1018113,"name":"Markus H. Heim","orcid":"0000-0002-7523-4894","position":21,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":103718,"name":"Robert E. Schwartz","orcid":"0000-0002-5417-5995","position":22,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270866,"name":"Raymond T. Chung","orcid":"0000-0001-7587-718X","position":23,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":331565,"name":"Georg M. Lauer","orcid":"0000-0002-9792-4271","position":24,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":329540,"name":"Edford Sinkala","orcid":"0000-0002-5756-5569","position":25,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":128643,"name":"Jörg Timm","orcid":"0000-0001-7799-3045","position":26,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393581,"name":"Michael J. Vinikoor","orcid":"0000-0002-3862-7795","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":38,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:53:41.314800Z","pmid":"41200694","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}