Immune escape adaptive mutations in the H7N9 avian influenza hemagglutinin protein
Increase virus replication fitness and decrease pandemic potential
Abstract
H7N9 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) continue to evolve and remain a huge threat to human health and the poultry industry. Previously, serially passaging the H7N9 A/Anhui/1/2013 virus in the presence of homologous ferret antiserum resulted in immune escape viruses containing amino acid substitutions alanine to threonine at residues 125 (A125T) and 151 (A151T) and leucine to glutamine at residue 217 (L217Q) in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein. These HA mutations have also been found in field isolates in 2019. To investigate the potential threat of serum escape mutant viruses to humans and poultry, the impact of these HA substitutions, either individually or in combination, on receptor binding, pH of fusion, thermal stability, and virus replication were investigated
This is a publication arising from the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) programme
Citation
Chang P, Sealy J, Sadeyen J, Bhat S, Lukosaityte D, Sun Y, Iqbal M (2020). Immune escape adaptive mutations in the H7N9 avian influenza hemagglutinin protein increase virus replication fitness and decrease pandemic potential. J Virol. 94:e00216-20.