Influenza Virus with Increased pH of Hemagglutinin Activation Has Improved Replication in Cell Culture but at the Cost of Infectivity in Human Airway Epithelium.

ABSTRACT: Pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza virus emerged from swine in 2009 with an adequate capability to infect and transmit between people. In subsequent years, it has circulated as a seasonal virus and evolved further human-adapting mutations. Mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA) stalk that increase pH stability have been associated with human adaptation and airborne transmission of pH1N1 virus. Yet, our understanding of how pH stability impacts virus-host interactions is incomplete. Here, using recombinant viruses with point mutations that alter the pH stability of pH1N1 HA, we found distinct effects on virus phenotypes in different experimental models. Increased pH sensitivity enabled viruses to uncoat in endosomes more efficiently, manifesting as increased replication rate in typical continuous

SUBMITTER: Singanayagam A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6694820 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature