In fact, HDV is less than a virus, in that it needs help from HBV to carry out a cycle of replication.
HDV research offers several unique and tantalizing problems in cell and molecular biology.
The prime example is that the RNA genome is able to redirect a host polymerase to the HDV RNA template. J. Virol., in press. Chang, J., Moraleda, G., and Taylor, J. Limitations to the replication of hepatitis delta virus in avian cells. J. Virol., in press. Moraleda, G., Dingle, K., Biswas, P., Chang, J., Zuccola, H., Hogle, J., and Taylor, J. Interactions between the hepatitis delta virus proteins.