The short stalk length of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus neuraminidase limits transmission of pandemic H1N1 virus in ferrets.

ABSTRACT: H5N1 influenza viruses pose a pandemic threat but have not acquired the ability to support sustained transmission between mammals in nature. The restrictions to transmissibility of avian influenza viruses in mammals are multigenic, and overcoming them requires adaptations in hemagglutinin (HA) and PB2 genes. Here we propose that a further restriction to mammalian transmission of the majority of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses may be the short stalk length of the neuraminidase (NA) protein. This genetic feature is selected for when influenza viruses adapt to chickens. In our study, a recombinant virus with seven gene segments from a human isolate of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic combined with the NA gene from a typical chicken-adapted H5N1 virus with a short stalk did not sup

SUBMITTER: Blumenkrantz D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3807409 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature