Bat influenza viruses transmit among bats but are poorly adapted to non-bat species.

ABSTRACT: Major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) molecules of multiple species function as cell-entry receptors for the haemagglutinin-like H18 protein of the bat H18N11 influenza A virus, enabling tropism of the viruses in a potentially broad range of vertebrates. However, the function of the neuraminidase-like N11 protein is unknown because it is dispensable for viral infection or the release of H18-pseudotyped viruses. Here, we show that infection of mammalian cells with wild-type H18N11 leads to the emergence of mutant viruses that lack the N11 ectodomain and acquired mutations in H18. An infectious clone of one such mutant virus, designated rP11, appeared to be genetically stable in mice and replicated to higher titres in mice and cell culture compared with wild-type H18N11. In ferr

SUBMITTER: Ciminski K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7758811 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature