Subtyping of type A influenza by sequencing the variable regions of HA gene specifically amplified with RT-PCR

The outbreak of a novel influenza A （H1N1） virus across the globe poses a threat to human health. It is of paramount importance to develop a rapid, reliable and inexpensive diagnostic procedure. Based on the bioinformatic information from public database, primers specific for influenza A virus surface protein haemagglutinin （HA） of several subtypes （including H1, H2, H3, H5, H7 and H9） were designed. Primer-specific PCR products were subiected to sequencing for accurately distinguishing H1 and H3 subtypes from others. This sequencing-based detection method will not only be applied to rapid detection and simultaneous subtype identification of new influenza A virus H1N1, but also provide the strategies to monitor other new types of influenza virus with explosive potential.     

The genomic and epidemiological dynamics of human influenza A virus

The evolutionary interaction between influenza A virus and the human immune system, manifest as 'antigenic drift' of the viral haemagglutinin, is one of the best described patterns in molecular evolution. However, little is known about the genome-scale evolutionary dynamics of this pathogen. Similarly, how genomic processes relate to global influenza epidemiology, in which the A/H3N2 and A/H1N1 subtypes co-circulate, is poorly understood. Here through an analysis of 1,302 complete viral genomes sampled from temperate populations in both hemispheres, we show that the genomic evolution of influenza A virus is characterized by a complex interplay between frequent reassortment and periodic selective sweeps. The A/H3N2 and A/H1N1 subtypes exhibit different evolutionary dynamics, with diverse lineages circulating in A/H1N1, indicative of weaker antigenic drift. These results suggest a sink-source model of viral ecology in which new lineages are seeded from a persistent influenza reservoir, which we hypothesize to be located in the tropics, to sink populations in temperate regions.     

Genome evolution of novel influenza A （H1N1 ） viruses in humans

The epidemic situation of A H1N1 flu arose in North America in April 2009, which rapidly expanded to three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, with the risk ranking up to 5. Until May 13th, the flu virus of A H1N1 had spread into 33 countries and regions, with a laboratory confirmed case number of 5728, including 61 deaths. Based on IRV and EpiFluDB database, 425 parts of A H1N1 flu virus sequence were achieved, followed by sequenced comparison and evolution analysis. The results showed that the current predominant A H1N1 flu virus was a kind of triple reassortment A flu virus： （i） HA, NA, MP, NP and NS originated from swine influenza virus; PB2 and PA originated from bird influenza virus; PB1 originated from human influenza virus. （ii） The origin of swine influenza virus could be subdivided as follows： HA, NP and NS originated from classic swine influenza virus of H1N1 subtype; NA and MP originated from bird origin swine influenza virus of H1N1 subtype. （iii） A H1N1 flu virus experienced no significant mutation during the epidemic spread, accompanied with no reassortment of the virus genome. In the paper, the region of the representative strains for sequence analysis （A/California/04/2009 （H1N1） and A/Mexico/4486/2009 （H1N1）） included USA and Mexico and was relatively wide, which suggested that the analysis results were convincing.     

Molecular patterns of avian influenza A viruses

Avian influenza A viruses could get across the species barrier and be fatal to humans. Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus was an example. The mechanism of interspecies transmission is not clear as yet. In this research, the protein sequences of 237 influenza A viruses with different subtypes were transformed into pseudo-signals. The energy features were extracted by the method of wavelet packet decomposition and used for virus classification by the method of hierarchical clustering. The clustering results showed that five patterns existed in avian influenza A viruses, which associated with the phenotype of interspecies transmission, and that avian viruses with patterns C and E could across species barrier and those with patterns A, B and D might not have the abilities. The results could be used to construct an early warning system to predict the transmissibility of avian influenza A viruses to humans.     

流感病毒H3N2血凝素基因和神经氨酸酶基因在真核酵母菌中的表达

目的克隆、表达和鉴定流感病毒H3N2血凝素基因(hemagglutinin,HA)和神经氨酸酶基因(neuramidinase,NA)序列,为制备抗体和基因工程疫苗打下基础。方法在成功克隆流感病毒H3N2全长HA、NA基因并测序的基础上,将部分基因序列克隆到表达载体pMET A上,构建了重组表达质粒pMET A/HA(52 bp～1 549 bp)、pMET A/NA(121 bp～1 260 bp),电转化真核酵母菌pMAD16,甲醇诱导表达,利用Ni2+亲和层析柱对重组蛋白进行纯化,并用Western Blotting和ELISA方法检测其抗原性。结果重组蛋白在酵母菌中可以高效表达,SDS-PAGE显示蛋白表达后形成了二聚体,蛋白纯度占总蛋白的95%以上,ELISA和Western Blotting实验证实,重组蛋白具有良好的抗原性。结论本研究成功克隆和表达了流感病毒H3N2 HA、NA基因序列,为流感病毒H3N2诊断试剂和疫苗开发等进一步研究奠定了基础。     

Molecular characterization of H3N2 and H4N6 subtypes avian influenza viruses isolated from mallards in Poyang Lake, China in 2010

Poyang Lake is the largest inland freshwater lake in China and contains many species of wild birds and waterfowls.We conducted a survey of avian influenza viruses in nine semi-artificial waterfowl farms in Poyang Lake during January to March of 2010.Out of 1036 cloacal swabs collected,three H3N2 and one H4N6 influenza viruses were isolated from healthy mallards.All the isolates were genetically and phylogenetically characterized.The analysis of putative HA cleavage sites showed that all the four isolates possessed the molecular characteristics(QTRGL for H3N2 viruses,PEKASR for H4N6 virus) of lowly pathogenic avian influenza(LPAI) virus.The phylogenetic analysis of the viral genomes showed that all four virus isolates clustered in the Eurasian clade of influenza viruses.The M gene of the viruses possessed the highest homology with highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses.In addition,co-infection of H3N2 and H4N6 in the same farm was observed.And interestingly,we isolated two subtypes viruses(H3N2 and H4N6) and their progeny virus(H3N2) with evidence of genome reassortment from the same farm,in which the PB1 and PB2 gene segments of H4N6 replaced those of the H3N2 strain.The results of animal infection experiments showed that all the four isolated viruses were lowly pathogenic to chickens and not pathogenic to mice,which was consistent with the results of genetic analysis.     

甲型H1N1流感超敏感诊断方法的建立及优化

利用几种助沉剂和核酸纯化方法富集病毒RNA,建立甲型H1N1流感超敏感诊断方法。收集31份甲型H1N1流感确诊病人提取的病毒RNA,稀释至1000分之一倍后分别应用酵母tRNA、糖原、AcrylCarrier助沉剂和磁珠、硅胶颗粒和离心柱的9种组合进行病毒RNA的富集,富集后分别进行RealtimePCR检测。并对检测结果进行统计学分析。利用几种助沉剂和核酸纯化方法的组合时,发现磁珠+AcrylCarrier助沉剂方法是最佳的核酸富集方法,能够大大提高病毒核酸的检出效率。建立了甲型H1N1流感超敏感诊断方法,该方法能够大大提高甲型H1N1流感的检出率。     

禽流感病毒H5N1亚型RNA聚合酶蛋白表达纯化及晶体生长

通过使用原核表达载体大量表达H5N1病毒RNA聚合酶亚基PA-C257,PB1_N25,再经过GST亲和层析和Sephadex G-200层析柱纯化,获得了高纯度的蛋白复合体.采用悬滴气相扩散法筛选蛋白晶体,在1～1.5mol/L乙酸钠和pH7.9条件下获得了理想的晶体,为解析禽流感病毒RNA聚合酶三维结构并进一步认识其生物功能奠定了基础.     

H1N1 流感病毒感染小鼠在免疫学研究中的初步应用

摘要: 目的研究H1N1 流感病毒感染能力及机体免疫应答反应。方法利用0. 1LD50剂量A/PＲ/8 /34 ( H1N1) 病毒感染C57BL/6 小鼠,利用ELISA 和流式细胞术等方法检测IL-5、IL-6 水平和CD4 + 效应性T 淋巴细胞比例。结果3dpi 小鼠肺脏病毒复制达到高峰,为107EID50 /g,7dpi 肺脏组织病理学观察呈间质性肺炎、炎性细胞浸润; 5dpi 时IL-6 水平达到峰值,为122pg /mL; 7dpi 时IL-5 达到峰值,为680pg /mL; 与未感染组相比,感染组CD4 + CD44 +CD62L － 效应T 细胞比例显著升高。结论结果表明PＲ8 流感病毒感染小鼠,肺脏病毒复制水平高,机体免疫应答强,适合用于进一步的免疫学研究。     

Special features of the 2009 pandemic swine-origin influenza A H1N1 hemagglutinin and neuraminidase

Since the 2009 pandemic H1N1 swine-origin influenza A virus (09 S-OIV) has reminded the world about the global threat of the ever changing influenza virus,many questions regarding the detailed re-assortment of influenza viruses yet remain unanswered.Influenza A virus is the causative agent of the pandemic flu and contains 2 major antigenic glycoproteins on its surface:(i) hemagglutinin (HA);and (ii) neuraminidase (NA).The structures of the 09 S-OIV HA and NA proteins (09H1 and 09N1) have recently been resolved in our laboratory and provide some clues as to why the 09 S-OIV re-assortment virus is highly infectious with severe consequences in humans.For example,the 09H1 is highly similar to the HA of the 1918 influenza A pandemic virus in overall structure and especially in regards to its 5 defined antibody binding epitopes.For 09N1,its most distinctive feature is the lack of a 150-loop active site cavity,which was previously predicted to be present in all N1 NAs,and we hypothesize that the 150-loop may play a important role in the substrate specificity (α2,3 or α2,6 linked sialic acid receptors) and enzymatic mechanism of influenza NA.Combination of the HA and NA with special characteristics for the 09 S-OIV might contribute to its high increased transmissibility in humans.     

禽流感病毒H5亚型特异性抗原捕捉ELISA检测方法的研究

 在获得禽流感病毒多克隆抗体及H5亚型特异性单克隆抗体的基础上,研究建立H5亚型特异性抗原捕捉ELISA检测方法,用于检测H5亚型禽流感病毒.优化反应条件,确定包被抗体、检测抗体及酶结合物的最佳工作浓度,进行敏感性、特异性、重复性及稳定性分析,并与RT-PCR方法比较.同时使用该方法对野外样品进行检测.结果表明:该方法敏感、特异,具有良好的重复性和稳定性,可用于检测临床样品、鸡胚培养物及细胞培养物中的H5亚型禽流感病毒.     

Orisin and future distribution of the new A （H 1N1 ） influenza virus emerging in North America in 2009

The origin of the new A （H1N1） influenza virus recently emerging in North America is a hot controversial topic of significance in disease control and risk assessment. Some experts claimed that it was an unusually mongrelized mix of human, avian and swine influenza viruses, while some others concluded that it was totally a simple re-assortment hybrid of two lineages of swine influenza viruses. Here the phylogenetic diversity of the viral PB1, PA and PB2 gene sequences using online web servers, and the results suggest that all the 8 genetic segments of the new virus were possibly from two lineages of swine influenza viruses, and one of the lineage was a mongrelized mix of human, avian and swine influenza viruses emerging in the world approximately 10 years ago. Considering the recent epidemiological trends of the new virus, we believe it will spread more widely in the world and persist long in human populations. It also could spread among swine populations. The future wide spreading of the new virus may coincide the disappearance of a subtype of previous human influenza A virus.     

人源甲型H1N1流感HA基因进化特征分析

为了探究2009年3月至8月流感大爆发期间的人源甲型H1N1流感病毒的进化特征,提出了一种图形化表达病毒序列的方法,该方法将甲型H1N1流感病毒HA基因的符号序列数字化表达后,利用主成分分析（PCA）将高维数值序列的维度大幅度降低为二维,将低维的数值序列图形化表达在平面和空间中。在序列的图形化表达基础上,对2009年3月到8月收集的三千多个流感病毒样本做了新旧病毒的区分,筛选出了新型病毒菌株,并根据图形探究了甲型H1N1流感病毒在时间序列上的进化特征。     

禽流感与防疫

禽流感是一种由A型流感病毒的一种亚型(也称禽流感病毒)引起的禽类(家禽和野禽)和人的传染性疾病,被国际兽疫局定为甲类传染病,了解和认识禽流感的流行与病毒特点、传播途径、主要症状、扑灭措施及疫苗预防,对于控制和防止禽流感的发生,以及为人类健康都有着重大意义。     

Structure modeling and spatial epitope analysis for HA protein of the novel H1N1 influenza virus

In recent months, a novel influenza virus H1N1 broke out around the world. With bioinformatics technology, the 3D structure of HA protein was obtained, and the epitope residues were predicted with the method developed in our group for this novel flu virus. 58 amino acids were identified as potential epitope residues, the majority of which clustered at the surface of the globular head of HA protein. Although it is located at the similar position, the epitope of HA protein for the novel H1N1 flu virus has obvious differences in the electrostatic potential compared to that of HA proteins from previous flu viruses.     

Molecular characterization of avian influenza virus (H7N8) isolated from poultry in Central China in the mid-1980s

The molecular and pathogenic properties of avian influenza virus (A/duck/Hubei/216/1985/H7N8) isolated from Hubei Province of China in 1985 were characterized.The hemagglutinin gene (HA) of Dk/Hb/216/85/H7N8 had the multiple amino acid se-quences (-PEIPKGRG-) at the connecting peptide between HA1 and HA2, which is considered to be a distinguishing molecular characteristic of low pathogenicity.The key sites of host markers among the genes (M, NP, NS, PA and PB2) of Dk/Hb/ 216/85/H7N8 were similar to those of...     

Secondary structural analysis of the mRNA regions encoding the hemagglutinin cleavage site basic amino acids of the avian influenza virus H5N1 subtype samples

Here we report the codon bias and the mRNA secondary structural features of the hemagglutinin （HA） cleavage site basic amino acid regions of avian influenza virus H5N1 subtypes. We have developed a dynamic extended folding strategy to predict RNA secondary structure with RNAstructure 4.1 program in an iterative extension process. Statistical analysis of the sequences showed that the HA cleavage site basic amino acids favor the adenine-rich codons, and the corresponding mRNA fragments are mainly in the folding states of single-stranded loops. Our sequential and structural analyses showed that to prevent and control these highly pathogenic viruses, that is, to inhibit the gene expression of avian influenza virus H5N1 subtypes, we should consider the single-stranded loop regions of the HA cleavage site-coding sequences as the targets of RNA interference.     

H5N1亚型禽流感病毒血凝素基因的克隆与表达

 根据已知H5N1亚型禽流感病毒血凝素(HA)基因序列设计、合成克隆引物.自灭活的云南地方H5N1亚型病毒阳性临床组织样品中提取总RNA,反转录后采用高可信度DNA聚合酶(Pyobest^TMDNA Polymerase)扩增HA基因,采用Invitrogen定向表达系统(Champion^TMpET directional TOPO expression system)进行克隆表达,纯化获得N末端携带多聚组氨酸标签的重组HA,分子质量约78ku.采用阳性血清经免疫印迹及ELISA分析重组HA的免疫反应性,结果表明重组HA能与H5N1亚型病毒抗血清发生特异性结合,具有良好的免疫反应性.     

流感分子病毒学研究进展

流感病毒繁殖周期很短,基因结构又非常简单,病毒RNA分成8个独立的片段。每个基因片段编码一个蛋白,有利于宿主发生双重感染后不同毒株之间基因交换重组。流感病毒为了自身生存,适应外界环境,频繁发生变异。每次新亚型出现,都引起世界性大流行。人类与流感病毒将长期共存。     

Molecular characterization of H1N1 influenza A viruses from human cases in North America

Subtypes of H1N1 influenza virus can be found in humans in North America, while they are also associated with the infection of swine. Characterization of the genotypes of viral strains in human populations is important to understand the source and distribution of viral strains. Genomic and protein sequences of 10 isolates of the 2009 outbreak of influenza A （H1N1） virus in North America were obtained from GenBank database. To characterize the genotypes of these viruses, phylogenetic trees of genes PB2, PB1, PA, HA, NP, NA, NS and M were constructed by Phylip3.67 program and N-Linked glycosylation sites of HA, NA, PB2, NS1 and M2 proteins were analyzed online by NetNGlyc1.0 program. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these isolates are virtually identical but may be recombinant viruses because their genomic fragments come from different viruses. The isolates also contain a characteristic lowly pathogenic amino acid motif at their HA cleavage sites （IPSIQSR↓GL）, and an E residue at position 627 of the PB2 protein which shows its high affinity to humans. The homologous model of M proteins showed that the viruses had obtained the ability of anti-amantadine due to the mutation at the drug-sensitive site, while sequence analysis of NA proteins indicated that the viruses are still susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitor drug （i.e. oseltamivir and zanamivir） because no mutations have been observed. Our results strongly suggested that the viruses responsible for the 2009 outbreaks of influenza A （H1N1） virus have the ability to cross species barriers to infect human and mammalian animals based on molecular analysis. These findings may further facilitate the therapy and prevention of possible transmission from North America to other countries.