Effect of D222G mutation in the hemagglutinin protein on receptor binding, pathogenesis and transmissibility of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus.

ABSTRACT: Influenza viruses isolated during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic generally lack known molecular determinants of virulence associated with previous pandemic and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses. The frequency of the amino acid substitution D222G in the hemagglutinin (HA) of 2009 H1N1 viruses isolated from severe but not mild human cases represents the first molecular marker associated with enhanced disease. To assess the relative contribution of this substitution in virus pathogenesis, transmission, and tropism, we introduced D222G by reverse genetics in the wild-type HA of the 2009 H1N1 virus, A/California/04/09 (CA/04). A dose-dependent glycan array analysis with the D222G virus showed a modest reduction in the binding avidity to human-like (α2-6 sialylated glycan) receptors and an incre

SUBMITTER: Belser JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3178596 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature