J.A St. Leger E. Liang A.L. Hicks M.D Sanchez-Leon S. Ip K. Jain J. H. Lefkowitch I. Navarrete-Macias N. Knowles T. Goldstein K. Pugliares T. Rowles W.I. Lipkin Anthony. S.J. 2015 <p><span>Describing the viral diversity of wildlife can provide interesting and useful insights into the natural history of established human pathogens. In this study, we describe a previously unknown picornavirus in harbor seals (tentatively named phopivirus) that is related to human hepatitis A virus (HAV). We show that phopivirus shares several genetic and phenotypic characteristics with HAV, including phylogenetic relatedness across the genome, a specific and seemingly quiescent tropism for hepatocytes, structural conservation in a key functional region of the type III internal ribosomal entry site (IRES), and a codon usage bias consistent with that of HAV.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1128/mBio.01180-15 en American Society for Microbiology Discovery of a novel hepatovirus (Phopivirus of seals) related to human hepatitis A virus article