Quantifying within-host diversity of H5N1 influenza viruses in humans and poultry in Cambodia.

ABSTRACT: Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) periodically cross species barriers and infect humans. The likelihood that an AIV will evolve mammalian transmissibility depends on acquiring and selecting mutations during spillover, but data from natural infection is limited. We analyze deep sequencing data from infected humans and domestic ducks in Cambodia to examine how H5N1 viruses evolve during spillover. Overall, viral populations in both species are predominated by low-frequency (<10%) variation shaped by purifying selection and genetic drift, and half of the variants detected within-host are never detected on the H5N1 virus phylogeny. However, we do detect a subset of mutations linked to human receptor binding and replication (PB2 E627K, HA A150V, and HA Q238L) that arose in multiple, independent hu

SUBMITTER: Moncla LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6992230 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature