Mutations Driving Airborne Transmission of A/H5N1 Virus in Mammals Cause Substantial Attenuation in Chickens only when combined.

ABSTRACT: A/H5N1 influenza viruses pose a threat to human and animal health. A fully avian A/H5N1 influenza virus was previously shown to acquire airborne transmissibility between ferrets upon accumulation of five or six substitutions that affected three traits: polymerase activity, hemagglutinin stability and receptor binding. Here, the impact of these traits on A/H5N1 virus replication, tissue tropism, pathogenesis and transmission was investigated in chickens. The virus containing all substitutions associated with transmission in mammals was highly attenuated in chickens. However, single substitutions that affect polymerase activity, hemagglutinin stability and receptor binding generally had a small or negligible impact on virus replication, morbidity and mortality. A virus carrying two substitut

SUBMITTER: Richard M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5543172 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature