Origin of the 1918 pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus as studied by codon usage patterns and phylogenetic analysis.

ABSTRACT: The pandemic of 1918 was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus, which is a negative strand RNA virus; however, little is known about the nature of its direct ancestral strains. Here we applied a broad genetic and phylogenetic analysis of a wide range of influenza virus genes, in particular the PB1 gene, to gain information about the phylogenetic relatedness of the 1918 H1N1 virus. We compared the RNA genome of the 1918 strain to many other influenza strains of different origin by several means, including relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU), effective number of codons (ENC), and phylogenetic relationship. We found that the PB1 gene of the 1918 pandemic virus had ENC values similar to the H1N1 classical swine and human viruses, but different ENC values from avian as well as H2N2 and H3N2 hu

SUBMITTER: Anhlan D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3004067 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature