Kocher, A.Papac, L.Barquera, R.Key, F.M.Spyrou, M.A.Hübler, R.Rohrlach, A.B.Aron, F.Stahl, R.Wissgott, A.van Bömmel, F.Pfefferkorn, M.Mittnik, A.Villalba-Mouco, V.Neumann, G.U.Rivollat, M.van de Loosdrecht, M.S.Majander, K.Tukhbatova, R.I.Musralina, L.et al.2021-11-252021-11-252021Science, 2021; 374(6564):182-1880036-80751095-9203https://hdl.handle.net/2440/133413Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic.enCopyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government WorksHumansHepatitis B virusCommunicable Diseases, EmergingHepatitis BGenomicsEvolution, MolecularPhylogenyPaleontologyHistory, AncientAmericasAsiaEuropeGenetic VariationAsian PeopleWhite PeopleAmerican Indian or Alaska NativeHumansHepatitis B virusCommunicable Diseases, EmergingHepatitis BGenomicsEvolution, MolecularPhylogenyPaleontologyHistory, AncientAsian Continental Ancestry GroupEuropean Continental Ancestry GroupAmericasAsiaEuropeGenetic VariationAmerican NativesJournal article10.1126/science.abi56582021-11-25589750Rohrlach, A.B. [0000-0002-4204-5018]Llamas, B. [0000-0002-5550-9176]Haak, W. [0000-0003-2475-2007]