Predicting the Mutating Distribution at Antigenic Sites of the Influenza Virus.

ABSTRACT: Mutations of the influenza virus lead to antigenic changes that cause recurrent epidemics and vaccine resistance. Preventive measures would benefit greatly from the ability to predict the potential distribution of new antigenic sites in future strains. By leveraging the extensive historical records of HA sequences for 90 years, we designed a computational model to simulate the dynamic evolution of antigenic sites in A/H1N1. With templates of antigenic sequences, the model can effectively predict the potential distribution of future antigenic mutants. Validation on 10932 HA sequences from the last 16 years showing that the mutated antigenic sites of over 94% of reported strains fell in our predicted profile. Meanwhile, our model can successfully capture 96% of antigenic sites in those domin

SUBMITTER: Xu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4738307 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature