Hierarchical Multivalent Effects Control Influenza Host Specificity.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how emerging influenza viruses recognize host cells is critical in evaluating their zoonotic potential, pathogenicity, and transmissibility between humans. The surface of the influenza virus is covered with hemagglutinin (HA) proteins that can form multiple interactions with sialic acid-terminated glycans on the host cell surface. This multivalent binding affects the selectivity of the virus in ways that cannot be predicted from the individual receptor-ligand interactions alone. Here, we show that the intrinsic structural and energetic differences between the interactions of avian- or human-type receptors with influenza HA translate from individual site affinity and orientation through receptor length and density on the surface into virus avidity and specificity. We introduce

SUBMITTER: Overeem NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7760459 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature