In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers reported use of high-throughput sequencing technology to identify a novel hepatitis C virus in domestic dogs.
The new virus, named canine hepacivirus (CHV), is the first known instance of hepatitis-like infection in animals outside of humans and non-human primates.
The identification and characterisation of this virus gives scientists new insights into how hepatitis C in humans may have evolved and provides scientists with renewed hope to develop a model system to study the disease.
The study, led by researchers from the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University and the University of Edinburg, began as an investigation to characterise respiratory viruses infecting domestic dogs.
Using high-throughput sequencing with the GS FLX System from 454 Life Sciences, the researchers discovered an unknown hepacivirus that was more similar to HCV than any discovered to date.
Further analysis determined that, like HCV, CHV's genome contained Genome Scale Ordered RNA structures (GORS) - secondary structures that allow viruses to chronically infect their natural hosts.
The sequence of genes that encode proteins involved in virus infection and replication were very similar between HCV and CHV.
The study findings suggest that the HCV virus may have been introduced into human populations through contact with dogs and that it may be more widely distributed among mammalian species than previously thought.
