The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic has attracted worldwide attention. The new virus first emerged in Mexico in April, 2009 was identified as a unique combination of a triple- reassortant swine influenza A virus, compose...The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic has attracted worldwide attention. The new virus first emerged in Mexico in April, 2009 was identified as a unique combination of a triple- reassortant swine influenza A virus, composed of genetic information from pigs, hu- mans, birds, and a Eurasian swine influenza virus. Several recent studies on the 2009 H1N1 virus util-ized small datasets to conduct analysis. With new sequences available up to date, we were able to extend the previous research in three areas. The first was finding two networks of co-mutations that may po-tentially affect the current flu-drug binding sites on neuraminidase (NA), one of the two surface proteins of flu virus. The second was discovering a special stalk motif, which was dominant in the H5N1 strains in the past, in the 2009 H1N1 strains for the first time. Due to the high virulence of this motif, the second finding is significant in our current research on 2009 H1N1. The third was updating the phylogenetic an- alysis of current NA sequences of 2009 H1N1 and H5N1, which demonstrated that, in clear contrast to previous findings, the N1 sequences in 2009 are di-verse enough to cover different major branches of the phylogenetic tree of those in previous years. As the novel influenza A H1N1 virus continues to spread globally, our results highlighted the importance of performing timely analysis on the 2009 H1N1 virus.展开更多
Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI) virus has the ability to evolve to high pathogenic viruses resulting in significant economic losses in the poultry sector. This study aims at assessing the impact of H9N2 viral pass...Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI) virus has the ability to evolve to high pathogenic viruses resulting in significant economic losses in the poultry sector. This study aims at assessing the impact of H9N2 viral passaging in broilers and its relatedness to pathogenicity and amino acid (a.a) sequences of the hemagglutinin (HA) cleavage site and neuraminidase (NA) stalk. The original H9N2 AI virus (P0) was used to challenge ten-21 days old broilers. Individual recovery of H9N2 virus from homogenates of trachea, lungs and airsacs was attempted in 9 days old chicken embryos, as a conclusion of the first passage (P1). Tracheal isolates of H9N2 were passaged for a second (P2) and a third (P3) time in broilers, followed by a similar embryonic recovery procedure. The a.a. sequence of a part of HA1 cleavage site and Neuraminidase stalk were compared among the differently passaged viruses;an assessement of the relatedness of the determined a.a. sequences to the pathogenicity in broilers, based on frequency of mortality, morbidity signs, gross and microscopic lesions at 3 days post challenge with the P1, P2, and P3-H9N2, is concluded. An increase in certain morbidity signs and specific lesions was observed in P2- and P3-H9N2 challenged broilers compared to birds challenged with P1-H9N2. A conserved R-S-S-R amino acid sequence at the HA1 cleavage site was observed in the differently passaged H9N2, associated with a variability in the NA stalk-a.a sequences. The passaging of the low pathogenic H9N2 virus in broilers leads to a trend of increase in pathogenicity, manifested in higher frequency of morbidity signs, and of specific gross and microscopic lesions of the examined organs. This passaging was associated with a conserved a.a. sequence of the hemaglutinin cleavage site and a variability in the sequence of the neuraminidase stalk. A detailed study of the potential of the detected variability in the neuraminidase stalk of H9N2 in induction of a higher pathogenicity in broilers will be the subject of future investigations.展开更多
Influenza A virus poses a great threat to global health, and oseltamivir (trade marked as Tamiflu), which targets influenza surface glycoprotein neuraminidase (NA), is used clinically as a major anti-influenza treatme...Influenza A virus poses a great threat to global health, and oseltamivir (trade marked as Tamiflu), which targets influenza surface glycoprotein neuraminidase (NA), is used clinically as a major anti-influenza treatment. However, certain substitutions in NA can render an influenza virus resistant to this drug. In this study, using a lentiviral pseudotyping system, which alleviates the safety concerns of studying highly pathogenic influenza viruses such as avian influenza H5N1, that utilizes influenza surface glycoproteins (hemagglutinin or HA, and NA) and an HIV-core combined with a luciferase reporter gene as a surrogate assay, we first assessed the functionality of NA by measuring pseudovirion release in the absence or presence of oseltamivir. We demonstrated that oseltamivir displays a dose-dependent inhibition on NA activity. In contrast, a mutant NA (H274Y) is more resistant to oseltamivir treatment. In addition, the effects of several previously reported substitution NA mutants were examined as well. Our results demonstrate that this lentivirus-based pseudotyping system provides a quick, safe, and effective way to assess resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors. And we believe that as new mutations appear in influenza isolates, their impact on the effectiveness of current and future anti-NA can be quickly and reliably evaluated by this assay.展开更多
文摘The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic has attracted worldwide attention. The new virus first emerged in Mexico in April, 2009 was identified as a unique combination of a triple- reassortant swine influenza A virus, composed of genetic information from pigs, hu- mans, birds, and a Eurasian swine influenza virus. Several recent studies on the 2009 H1N1 virus util-ized small datasets to conduct analysis. With new sequences available up to date, we were able to extend the previous research in three areas. The first was finding two networks of co-mutations that may po-tentially affect the current flu-drug binding sites on neuraminidase (NA), one of the two surface proteins of flu virus. The second was discovering a special stalk motif, which was dominant in the H5N1 strains in the past, in the 2009 H1N1 strains for the first time. Due to the high virulence of this motif, the second finding is significant in our current research on 2009 H1N1. The third was updating the phylogenetic an- alysis of current NA sequences of 2009 H1N1 and H5N1, which demonstrated that, in clear contrast to previous findings, the N1 sequences in 2009 are di-verse enough to cover different major branches of the phylogenetic tree of those in previous years. As the novel influenza A H1N1 virus continues to spread globally, our results highlighted the importance of performing timely analysis on the 2009 H1N1 virus.
文摘Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI) virus has the ability to evolve to high pathogenic viruses resulting in significant economic losses in the poultry sector. This study aims at assessing the impact of H9N2 viral passaging in broilers and its relatedness to pathogenicity and amino acid (a.a) sequences of the hemagglutinin (HA) cleavage site and neuraminidase (NA) stalk. The original H9N2 AI virus (P0) was used to challenge ten-21 days old broilers. Individual recovery of H9N2 virus from homogenates of trachea, lungs and airsacs was attempted in 9 days old chicken embryos, as a conclusion of the first passage (P1). Tracheal isolates of H9N2 were passaged for a second (P2) and a third (P3) time in broilers, followed by a similar embryonic recovery procedure. The a.a. sequence of a part of HA1 cleavage site and Neuraminidase stalk were compared among the differently passaged viruses;an assessement of the relatedness of the determined a.a. sequences to the pathogenicity in broilers, based on frequency of mortality, morbidity signs, gross and microscopic lesions at 3 days post challenge with the P1, P2, and P3-H9N2, is concluded. An increase in certain morbidity signs and specific lesions was observed in P2- and P3-H9N2 challenged broilers compared to birds challenged with P1-H9N2. A conserved R-S-S-R amino acid sequence at the HA1 cleavage site was observed in the differently passaged H9N2, associated with a variability in the NA stalk-a.a sequences. The passaging of the low pathogenic H9N2 virus in broilers leads to a trend of increase in pathogenicity, manifested in higher frequency of morbidity signs, and of specific gross and microscopic lesions of the examined organs. This passaging was associated with a conserved a.a. sequence of the hemaglutinin cleavage site and a variability in the sequence of the neuraminidase stalk. A detailed study of the potential of the detected variability in the neuraminidase stalk of H9N2 in induction of a higher pathogenicity in broilers will be the subject of future investigations.
文摘Influenza A virus poses a great threat to global health, and oseltamivir (trade marked as Tamiflu), which targets influenza surface glycoprotein neuraminidase (NA), is used clinically as a major anti-influenza treatment. However, certain substitutions in NA can render an influenza virus resistant to this drug. In this study, using a lentiviral pseudotyping system, which alleviates the safety concerns of studying highly pathogenic influenza viruses such as avian influenza H5N1, that utilizes influenza surface glycoproteins (hemagglutinin or HA, and NA) and an HIV-core combined with a luciferase reporter gene as a surrogate assay, we first assessed the functionality of NA by measuring pseudovirion release in the absence or presence of oseltamivir. We demonstrated that oseltamivir displays a dose-dependent inhibition on NA activity. In contrast, a mutant NA (H274Y) is more resistant to oseltamivir treatment. In addition, the effects of several previously reported substitution NA mutants were examined as well. Our results demonstrate that this lentivirus-based pseudotyping system provides a quick, safe, and effective way to assess resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors. And we believe that as new mutations appear in influenza isolates, their impact on the effectiveness of current and future anti-NA can be quickly and reliably evaluated by this assay.
