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

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise H. Moncla ◽  
Trevor Bedford ◽  
Philippe Dussart ◽  
Srey Viseth Horm ◽  
Sareth Rith ◽  
...  

AbstractAvian 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 humans. PB2 E627K and HA A150V were also enriched along phylogenetic branches leading to human infections, suggesting that they are likely human-adaptive. Our data show that H5N1 viruses generate putative human-adapting mutations during natural spillover infection, many of which are detected at >5% frequency within-host. However, short infection times, genetic drift, and purifying selection likely restrict their ability to evolve extensively during a single infection. Applying evolutionary methods to sequence data, we reveal a detailed view of H5N1 virus adaptive potential, and develop a foundation for studying host-adaptation in other zoonotic viruses.Author summaryH5N1 avian influenza viruses can cross species barriers and cause severe disease in humans. H5N1 viruses currently cannot replicate and transmit efficiently among humans, but animal infection studies and modeling experiments have suggested that human adaptation may require only a few mutations. However, data from natural spillover infection has been limited, posing a challenge for risk assessment. Here, we analyze a unique dataset of deep sequence data from H5N1 virus-infected humans and domestic ducks in Cambodia. We find that well-known markers of human receptor binding and replication arise in multiple, independent humans. We also find that 3 mutations detected within-host are enriched along phylogenetic branches leading to human infections, suggesting that they are likely human-adapting. However, we also show that within-host evolution in both humans and ducks are shaped heavily by purifying selection and genetic drift, and that a large fraction of within-host variation is never detected on the H5N1 phylogeny. Taken together, our data show that H5N1 viruses do generate human-adapting mutations during natural infection. However, short infection times, purifying selection, and genetic drift may severely limit how much H5N1 viruses can evolve during the course of a single infection.

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 3534-3541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Ma ◽  
Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam ◽  
Yujuan Chai ◽  
Jia Wang ◽  
Xiaohui Fan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe cases of human infections with H10N8 viruses identified in late 2013 and early 2014 in Jiangxi, China, have raised concerns over the origin, prevalence, and development of these viruses in this region. Our long-term influenza surveillance of poultry and migratory birds in southern China in the past 12 years showed that H10 influenza viruses have been introduced from migratory to domestic ducks over several winter seasons at sentinel duck farms at Poyang Lake, where domestic ducks share their water body with overwintering migratory birds. H10 viruses were never detected in terrestrial poultry in our survey areas until August 2013, when they were identified at live-poultry markets in Jiangxi. Since then, we have isolated 124 H10N8 or H10N6 viruses from chickens at local markets, revealing an ongoing outbreak. Phylogenetic analysis of H10 and related viruses showed that the chicken H10N8 viruses were generated through multiple reassortments between H10 and N8 viruses from domestic ducks and the enzootic chicken H9N2 viruses. These chicken reassortant viruses were highly similar to the human isolate, indicating that market chickens were the source of human infection. Recently, the H10 viruses further reassorted, apparently with H5N6 viruses, and generated an H10N6 variant. The emergence and prevalence of H10 viruses in chickens and the occurrence of human infections provide direct evidence of the threat from the current influenza ecosystem in China.IMPORTANCEAfter the outbreak of avian-origin H7N9 influenza viruses in China, fatal human infections with a novel H10N8 virus were reported. Utilizing data from 12 years of influenza surveillance in southern China, we showed that H10 viruses were regularly introduced by migratory ducks to domestic ducks on Poyang Lake, a major aggregative site of migratory birds in Asia. The H10 viruses were maintained and amplified in domestic ducks and then transmitted to chickens and reassorted with enzootic H9N2 viruses, leading to an outbreak and human infections at live-poultry markets. The emergence of the H10N8 virus, following a pathway similar to that of the recent H7N9 virus, highlights the role of domestic ducks and the current influenza ecosystem in China that facilitates influenza viruses moving from their reservoir hosts through the live-poultry system to cause severe consequences for public health.


Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pui Wang ◽  
Wenjun Song ◽  
Bobo Mok ◽  
Min Zheng ◽  
Siu-Ying Lau ◽  
...  

Significantly higher numbers of human infections with H5N1 virus have occurred in Indonesia and Egypt, compared with other affected areas, and it is speculated that there are specific viral factors for human infection with avian H5N1 viruses in these locations. We previously showed PB2-K526R is present in 80% of Indonesian H5N1 human isolates, which lack the more common PB2-E627K substitution. Testing the hypothesis that this mutation may prime avian H5N1 virus for human infection, we showed that: (1) K526R is rarely found in avian influenza viruses but was identified in H5N1 viruses 2–3 years after the virus emerged in Indonesia, coincident with the emergence of H5N1 human infections in Indonesia; (2) K526R is required for efficient replication of Indonesia H5N1 virus in mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo and reverse substitution to 526K in human isolates abolishes this ability; (3) Indonesian H5N1 virus, which contains K526R-PB2, is stable and does not further acquire E627K following replication in infected mice; and (4) virus containing K526R-PB2 shows no fitness deficit in avian species. These findings illustrate an important mechanism in which a host adaptive mutation that predisposes avian H5N1 virus towards infecting humans has arisen with the virus becoming prevalent in avian species prior to human infections occurring. A similar mechanism is observed in the Qinghai-lineage H5N1 viruses that have caused many human cases in Egypt; here, E627K predisposes towards human infections. Surveillance should focus on the detection of adaptation markers in avian strains that prime for human infection.


Author(s):  
Mahmoud M Naguib ◽  
Josanne H Verhagen ◽  
Ahmed Mostafa ◽  
Michelle Wille ◽  
Ruiyun Li ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) continue to impose a negative impact on animal and human health worldwide. In particular, the emergence of highly pathogenic AIV H5 and, more recently, the emergence of low pathogenic AIV H7N9 have led to enormous socioeconomical losses in the poultry industry and resulted in fatal human infections. While H5N1 remains infamous, the number of zoonotic infections with H7N9 has far surpassed those attributed to H5. Despite the clear public health concerns posed by AIV H7, it is unclear why specifically this virus subtype became endemic in poultry and emerged in humans. In this review, we bring together data on global patterns of H7 circulation, evolution and emergence in humans. Specifically, we discuss data from the wild bird reservoir, expansion and epidemiology in poultry, significant increase in their zoonotic potential since 2013 and genesis of highly pathogenic H7. In addition, we analysed available sequence data from an evolutionary perspective, demonstrating patterns of introductions into distinct geographic regions and reassortment dynamics. The integration of all aspects is crucial in the optimisation of surveillance efforts in wild birds, poultry and humans, and we emphasise the need for a One Health approach in controlling emerging viruses such as AIV H7.


Author(s):  
Liang Cheng ◽  
Xudong Han ◽  
Zijun Zhu ◽  
Changlu Qi ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Since the first report of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide. Due to the limited virus strains, few key mutations that would be very important with the evolutionary trends of virus genome were observed in early studies. Here, we downloaded 1809 sequence data of SARS-CoV-2 strains from GISAID before April 2020 to identify mutations and functional alterations caused by these mutations. Totally, we identified 1017 nonsynonymous and 512 synonymous mutations with alignment to reference genome NC_045512, none of which were observed in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. On average, each of the strains could have about 1.75 new mutations each month. The current mutations may have few impacts on antibodies. Although it shows the purifying selection in whole-genome, ORF3a, ORF8 and ORF10 were under positive selection. Only 36 mutations occurred in 1% and more virus strains were further analyzed to reveal linkage disequilibrium (LD) variants and dominant mutations. As a result, we observed five dominant mutations involving three nonsynonymous mutations C28144T, C14408T and A23403G and two synonymous mutations T8782C, and C3037T. These five mutations occurred in almost all strains in April 2020. Besides, we also observed two potential dominant nonsynonymous mutations C1059T and G25563T, which occurred in most of the strains in April 2020. Further functional analysis shows that these mutations decreased protein stability largely, which could lead to a significant reduction of virus virulence. In addition, the A23403G mutation increases the spike-ACE2 interaction and finally leads to the enhancement of its infectivity. All of these proved that the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is toward the enhancement of infectivity and reduction of virulence.


The Lancet ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 313 (8113) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.F Shortridge

2014 ◽  
Vol 95 (11) ◽  
pp. 2372-2376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andi Krumbholz ◽  
Jeannette Lange ◽  
Andreas Sauerbrei ◽  
Marco Groth ◽  
Matthias Platzer ◽  
...  

The avian-like swine influenza viruses emerged in 1979 in Belgium and Germany. Thereafter, they spread through many European swine-producing countries, replaced the circulating classical swine H1N1 influenza viruses, and became endemic. Serological and subsequent molecular data indicated an avian source, but details remained obscure due to a lack of relevant avian influenza virus sequence data. Here, the origin of the European avian-like swine influenza viruses was analysed using a collection of 16 European swine H1N1 influenza viruses sampled in 1979–1981 in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and France, as well as several contemporaneous avian influenza viruses of various serotypes. The phylogenetic trees suggested a triple reassortant with a unique genotype constellation. Time-resolved maximum clade credibility trees indicated times to the most recent common ancestors of 34–46 years (before 2008) depending on the RNA segment and the method of tree inference.


2015 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 1872-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiao Feng ◽  
Zeng Wang ◽  
Jianzhong Shi ◽  
Guohua Deng ◽  
Huihui Kong ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe isolated two H5N1 viruses, A/duck/Hunan/S4020/2008 (DK/08) and A/chicken/Guangxi/S2039/2009 (CK/09), from live-bird markets during routine surveillance and found that these two viruses are genetically similar but differ in their replication and virulence in mice. The CK/09 virus is lethal for mice with a 50% mouse lethal dose (MLD50) of 1.6 log1050% egg infectious doses (EID50), whereas the DK/08 virus is nonpathogenic for mice with an MLD50value of 6.2 log10EID50. We explored the genetic basis of the virulence difference of these two viruses by generating a series of reassortant viruses and mutants in the lethal virus CK/09 background and evaluating their virulence in mice. We found that the PB1 gene of the DK/08 virus dramatically attenuated the virulence of the CK/09 virus and that the amino acid at position 622 in PB1 made an important contribution. We further demonstrated that the mutation of glycine (G) to aspartic acid (D) at position 622 in PB1 partially impaired the binding of PB1 to viral RNA, thereby dramatically decreasing the polymerase activity and attenuating H5N1 virus virulence in mice. Our results identify a novel virulence-related marker of H5N1 influenza viruses and provide a new target for live attenuated vaccine development.IMPORTANCEH5N1 avian influenza viruses have caused the deaths of nearly 60% of the humans that they have infected since 1997 and clearly represent a threat to public health. A thorough understanding of the genetic basis of virulence determinants will provide important insights for antiviral drug and live attenuated vaccine development. Several virulence-related markers in the PB2, PA, M1, and NS1 proteins of H5N1 viruses have been identified. In this study, we isolated two H5N1 avian influenza viruses that are genetically similar but differ in their virulence in mice, and we identified a new virulence-related marker in the PB1 gene. We found that the mutation of glycine (G) to aspartic acid (D) at position 622 in PB1 partially impairs the binding of PB1 to viral RNA, thereby attenuating H5N1 virus virulence in mice. This newly identified virulence-related marker could be applied to the development of live attenuated vaccines against H5N1 influenza.


Viruses ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruhiko Kamiki ◽  
Hiromichi Matsugo ◽  
Tomoya Kobayashi ◽  
Hiroho Ishida ◽  
Akiko Takenaka-Uema ◽  
...  

H9N2 avian influenza viruses are present in poultry worldwide. These viruses are considered to have pandemic potential, because recent isolates can recognize human-type receptor and several sporadic human infections have been reported. In this study, we aimed to identify mutations related to mammalian adaptation of H9N2 influenza virus. We found that mouse-adapted viruses had several mutations in hemagglutinin (HA), PB2, PA, and PB1. Among the detected mutations, PB1-K577E was a novel mutation that had not been previously reported to involve mammalian adaptation. A recombinant H9N2 virus bearing only the PB1-K577E mutation showed enhanced pathogenicity in mice, with increased virus titers in nasal turbinates compared to that in mice infected with the wild-type virus. In addition, the PB1-K577E mutation increased virus polymerase activity in human cell culture at a lower temperature. These data suggest that the PB1-K577E mutation is a novel pathogenicity determinant of H9N2 virus in mice and could be a signature for mammalian adaptation.


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