Deep sequencing of full length Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) genomes using Rolling Circle Amplification and Nanopore
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The development of unbiased, whole-genome sequencing methods for viruses including HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been particularly informative, providing insight into transmission events, the emergence of drug resistance and disease-related outcomes (1). The advancement of such techniques for hepatitis B virus (HBV) will be crucial whilst working towards elimination targets set by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2).
Currently, the most widely used sequencing platforms are not portable, require substantial financial investment, protocols can take 1-2 days, and are only capable of sequencing relatively short reads, making haplotype reconstruction challenging.
‘Third generation’ sequencing approaches such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinlON can overcome these limitations (3).