Identification of Hepatitis B virus genotype I in Thailand.

The rare hepatitis B virus genotype I (HBV-I) classification includes complex A/G/C/U recombinants identified amongst individuals from China, India, Laos, and Vietnam. Herein we report the first HBV-I specimen from Thailand, with detectable HBsAg despite a 10 amino acid truncation. This HBV-I genome has a similar recombinant pattern to reference strains, including a C region that branches basal to references, suggesting a pre-modern era recombination event gave rise to HBV-I. With an average sequence divergence from other genotypes ranging from 7.66% (C, 0.42% sd) to 14.27% (H, 0.31% sd), this new genome supports the HBV-I classification as a unique genotype. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.