The Influenza B Virus Hemagglutinin Head Domain Is Less Tolerant to Transposon Mutagenesis than That of the Influenza A Virus.

ABSTRACT: Influenza A and B viruses can continuously evade humoral immune responses by developing mutations in the globular head of the hemagglutinin (HA) that prevent antibody binding. However, the influenza B virus HA over time displays less antigenic variation despite being functionally and structurally similar to the influenza A virus HA. To determine if the influenza B virus HA is under constraints that limit its antigenic variation, we performed a transposon screen to compare the mutational tolerance of the currently circulating influenza A virus HAs (H1 and H3 subtypes) and influenza B virus HAs (B/Victoria87 and B/Yamagata88 antigenic lineages). A library of insertional mutants for each HA was generated and deep sequenced after passaging to determine where insertions were tolerated in replic

SUBMITTER: Fulton BO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6069205 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature