Evidence for a novel gene associated with human influenza A viruses.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Influenza A virus genomes are comprised of 8 negative strand single-stranded RNA segments and are thought to encode 11 proteins, which are all translated from mRNAs complementary to the genomic strands. Although human, swine and avian influenza A viruses are very similar, cross-species infections are usually limited. However, antigenic differences are considerable and when viruses become established in a different host or if novel viruses are created by re-assortment devastating pandemics may arise.

Results

Examination of influenza A virus genomes from the early 20th Century revealed the association of a 167 codon ORF encoded by the genomic strand of segment 8 with human isolates. Close to the timing of the 1948 pseudopandemic, a mutation occurred that resulted in

SUBMITTER: Clifford M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2780412 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature