Stepwise prediction and statistical screening: B-cell epitopes on neuraminidase of human avian H5N1 virus

The B-cell epitopes of virus are associated with the antiviral drug and the vaccine screening. As the nucleotide sequences of neuraminidase （NA） of stain GD-01-06 were sequenced, we predicted the a-helix and β-fold structure and the indexes of the flexible regions of secondary structure of NA with methods of the Hydrophilicity plot by Kyte-Doolittle, the Surface probability plot by Emini and the An- tigenic index by Jameson-Wolf, and then screened statistically the parameters to predict B-cell epi- topes by the Hierarchical cluster and the Bivariate correlation and the quartiles with SPSS 13.0. The impact of variation of amino acids in NA on its epitopes was analyzed. The predictive results were evaluated by Wu＇s Antigenic Index and SWISS-MODEL. We found that the most possible epitopes on NA were located within or nearby its N-terminal Nos. 120--137, 81--84, 408--415, 273--282, 429--432, 356--368, 46--55, 146--155, 341 --350 and 198--209, which were the dominant regions of NA epitopes. Peptide 120--137 including the glycoprotein domain （NGT126 128） was first chosen as the B-cell epitopes on NA. NA in H5N1 strain isolated after 2003 lacked in No. 53 amino acid （I）, resulting in an increase in the surface flexible region of NA in GD-01-06 and an enlargement to their epitope regions （VEP48-48→ VEPISNTNFL46-55）. Conclusively, prediction of the B-cell epitopes on the NA based on multiple pa- rameters is useful for researches on the molecular immunology and drug screening and immuno-prophylaxis. A deletion of No. 53 amino acid （I） in NA in strain GD-01-06 might increase its anti- genicity.     

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.     

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.     

The mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene from the novel influenza A （H1N1 ） virus

A mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene （HA） of the novel type A （H1N1） influenza virus was constructed. Sequence homology analysis indicated that one HA sequence type from the viruses mainly isolated from Mexico was likely the original type in this epidemic. Based on the 658A and 1408T mutations in HA, the viruses evolving into this epidemic were divided into three categories, the Mexico, the transitional and the New York type. The three groups of viruses presented distinctive clustering features in their geographic distributions.     

Antigenic epitope peptides of influenza H3N2 virus neuraminidase gene based on experiments

The neuraminidase (NA) in viral surface is one of the main subtype-specific antigen of influenza type A viruses.Neuraminidase is an enzyme to break the bonds between hemagglutinin (HA) and sialic acid to release newly formed viruses from infected cells.In this study,the H3N2 subtype virus NA genes were sequenced and NA proteins were screened for B-cell epitopes and assessed based on immunoinformatics.Based on this results,four peptides DR6,EY7,VG8 and RE8 (covering amino acid residues 151-156,368-374,398-405 and 428-435,respectively) of the NA protein were synthesized artificially.These peptides were used to immunize New Zealand rabbits subcutaneously to raise antisera.Experimental results showed that these four peptides were capable of eliciting antibodies against H3N2 viruses in a specific and sensitive feature,detected in vitro by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Moreover,hemadsorption anti-releasing effects took place in three three-antisera-mixtures at a dilution of 1:40.Alignment using NA gene database showed that amino acid residues in these four epitope peptides were substituted at specific sites in all the NAs sequenced in this study.It was suggested that these NA epitope peptides might be used in combination with HA proteins as vaccine antigens.     

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.     

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.     

无血清微载体培养MDCK细胞和甲型流感病毒H1N1的条件优化

 血清微载体培养MDCK细胞,并接种流感病毒H1N1,优化培养条件,为细胞流感疫苗的工艺研发奠定基础.采用不同的细胞接种量在50mL无血清微载体搅拌瓶中培养MDCK细胞,并接种甲型流感病毒H1N1,检测不同pH值和TPCK-胰酶含量的病毒培养液,不同病毒接种量,补加TPCK-胰酶,以及不同收毒时间对血凝效价的影响.以1.0×10⁵mL^-1的MDCK细胞数量接种到无血清微载体上,病毒培养液pH值为7.2~7.4范围内,TPCK-胰酶质量浓度为1.0μg/mL,接种后不补加胰酶,病毒接种量MOI=1.0,并在72h收获,最高血凝效价达到512.由此获得了在无血清为载体上培养MDCK细胞和甲型流感病毒H1N1的适宜条件.     

Stepwise prediction and statistical screening:B-cell epitopes on neuraminidase of human avian H_5N_1 virus

The B-cell epitopes of virus are associated with the antiviral drug and the vaccine screening. As the nucleotide sequences of neuraminidase (NA) of stain GD-01-06 were sequenced, we predicted the α-helix and β-fold structure and the indexes of the flexible regions of secondary structure of NA with methods of the Hydrophilicity plot by Kyte-Doolittle, the Surface probability plot by Emini and the Antigenic index by Jameson-Wolf, and then screened statistically the parameters to predict B-cell epitopes by the Hierarchical cluster and the Bivariate correlation and the quartiles with SPSS 13.0. The impact of variation of amino acids in NA on its epitopes was analyzed. The predictive results were evaluated by Wu’s Antigenic Index and SWISS-MODEL. We found that the most possible epitopes on NA were located within or nearby its N-terminal Nos. 120―137, 81―84, 408―415, 273―282, 429―432, 356―368, 46―55, 146―155, 341―350 and 198―209, which were the dominant regions of NA epitopes. Peptide 120―137 including the glycoprotein domain (NGT126―128) was first chosen as the B-cell epitopes on NA. NA in H5N1 strain isolated after 2003 lacked in No. 53 amino acid (I), resulting in an increase in the surface flexible region of NA in GD-01-06 and an enlargement to their epitope regions (VEP46―48→ VEPISNTNFL46―55). Conclusively, prediction of the B-cell epitopes on the NA based on multiple parameters is useful for researches on the molecular immunology and drug screening and immuno-prophylaxis. A deletion of No. 53 amino acid (I) in NA in strain GD-01-06 might increase its antigenicity.     

甲型H1N1流感在预防控制措施下的传播数学模型构建

从数学应用的角度,研究甲型H1N1流感的传播规律,将人群分为易感人群、病毒潜伏人群、发病人群、退出者人群四类. 分析了甲型H1N1流感在人群间的转化过程;日接触率和"聚集性突然爆发"事件被数学刻画,尝试性地构建了一个在预防控制阶段的传播数学模型.     

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.     

H5N1亚型禽流感毒株A/Duck/HuBei/3/2005的分子特征及致病性研究

采用分子生物学方法,对1株2005年从湖北省某县分离获得的禽流感病毒株(A/Duck/HuBei/3/2005)进行全基因组序列测定.序列分析显示,该分离株为H5N1亚型.HA蛋白在HA1和HA2连接处,含有连续多碱性氨基酸模体(-RRKKR-).根据进化分析结果,分离株A/Duck/HuBei/3/2005的7个基因来源于2004～2005年湖南地区流行株(CK/HN/999/05,DK/HN303/04),但是PA基因片段发生了重排,来源于野禽.动物实验显示DK/HB/3/05对鸡和鸭均具有高致病性;对小鼠有较低致病性.     

2009年北京市甲型H1N1流行的气象因子与时空传播风险

 2009年8月初,甲型H1N1逐步在北京市本地人群中大范围传播扩散。实验室检测表明,甲型H1N1阳性病例占流感样病例的比例（从0.0086到0.7035）呈逐步上升趋势。本研究利用相关性统计分析方法,探索了2009年8月3日—11月8日甲型H1N1阳性率和4个气象因子（气温、相对湿度、降水量、风速）之间的关联关系。结果表明,甲型H1N1阳性率与气温的相关系数为-0.9458（P<0.05）,甲型H1N1阳性率与相对湿度的相关系数为-0.4581（P<0.1）,干冷环境下的甲型H1N1阳性率显著偏高。本研究构建了利用气温和相关湿度估算甲型H1N1阳性率的逻辑斯谛模型,反演得到了北京市每个区县每天的甲型H1N1阳性率,分析了北京市甲型H1N1流行的时空传播风险。     

A/PR8/34(H1N1)NA基因包装信号对H5N1流感疫苗株NIBRG-14产量的影响

NIBRG-14是采用6+2策略制备的一株H5N1灭活疫苗株,其表面抗原HA和NA基因来自于A/Vietnam/1194/2004(H5N1,VN1194),内部基因来自于A/Puerto Rico/8/34(H1N1,PR8),已有研究表明该疫苗株在鸡胚中的产量不佳.本研究发现,在PR8背景下,VN1194NA基因被包装入重组病毒中的效率仅为正常包装量的38%～68%,因此有一部分重组病毒为不含有NAvRNA的缺陷型病毒粒子.本研究通过在VN1194NA基因完整编码区(CDS)的5′和3′两端嵌合PR8NA基因包装信号序列(vRNA3′末端41bp,5′末端67bp)的方法,使重组病毒中NAvRNA的包装效率得到完全恢复,并且病毒在鸡胚的生长滴度提高了10倍,血凝素HA含量提高了约2·7倍,从而为H5N1流感疫苗株的研制提供了新的思考方向.     

Prediction of a common neutralizing epitope of H5N1 avian influenza virus by in silico molecular docking

The H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) has widely spread in Asia, Europe and Africa, making a large amount of economic loss. Recently, our research group has screened a common neutralizing mono- clonal antibody named 8H5, which can neutralize almost all H5 subtype AIV ever isolated so far. Obvi- ously, this monoclonal antibody would benefit for research and development of the universal AIV vac- cine and design of the drug against H5N1 AIV in high mutation rate. In this study, the homology mod- eling was applied to generate the 3D structure of 8H5 Fab fragment, and "canonical structure" method was used to define the specified loop conformation of CDR regions. The model was subjected to en- ergy minimization in cvff force field with Discovery module in Insight II program. The resulting model has correct stereochemistry as gauged from the Ramachandran plot calculation and good 3D-structure compatibility as assessed by interaction energy analysis, solvent accessible surface (SAS) analysis, and Profiles-3D approach. Furthermore, the 8H5 Fab model was subjected to docking with three H5 subtype hemagglutinin (HA) structures deposited in PDB (ID No: 1jsm, 2ibx and 2fk0) respectively. The result indicates that the three docked complexes share a common binding interface, but differ in bind- ing angle related with HA structure similarity between viral subtypes. In the light of the three HA inter- faces with structural homology analysis, the common neutralizing epitope on HA recognized by 8H5 consists of 9 incontinuous amino acid residues: Asp68, Asn72, Glu112, Lys113, Ile114, Pro118, Ser120, Tyr137, Tyr252 (numbered as for 1jsm sequence). The primary purpose of the present work is to provide some insight into structure and binding details of a common neutralizing epitope of H5N1 AIV, thereby aiding in the structure-based design of universal AIV vaccines and anti-virus therapeutic drugs.     

Prediction of a common neutralizing epitope of H5N1 avian influenza virus by in silico molecular docking

The H5N1 avian influenza virus （AIV） has widely spread in Asia, Europe and Africa, making a large amount of economic loss. Recently, our research group has screened a common neutralizing mono-clonal antibody named 8H5, which can neutralize almost all H5 subtype AIV ever isolated so far. Obviously, this monoclonal antibody would benefit for research and development of the universal AIV vac-cine and design of the drug against H5N1 AIV in high mutation rate. In this study, the homology modeling was applied to generate the 3D structure of 8H5 Fab fragment, and ＂canonical structure＂ method was used to define the specified loop conformation of CDR regions. The model was subjected to energy minimization in cvff force field with Discovery module in Insight II program. The resulting model has correct stereochemistry as gauged from the Ramachandran plot calculation and good 3D-structure compatibility as assessed by interaction energy analysis, solvent accessible surface （SAS） analysis, and Profiles-3D approach. Furthermore, the 8H5 Fab model was subjected to docking with three H5 subtype hemagglutinin （HA） structures deposited in PDB （ID No： ljsm, 2ibx and 2fk0） respectively. The result indicates that the three docked complexes share a common binding interface, but differ in binding angle related with HA structure similarity between viral subtypes. In the light of the three HA inter-faces with structural homology analysis, the common neutralizing epitope on HA recognized by 8H5 consists of 9 incontinuous amino acid residues： Asp^58, Asn^72, Glu^112, Lys^113, lie^114, Pro^118, Ser^120, Tyr^137, Tyr^252 （numbered as for ljsm sequence）. The primary purpose of the present work is to provide some insight into structure and binding details of a common neutralizing epitope of H5N1 AIV, thereby aiding in the structure-based design of universal AIV vaccines and anti-virus therapeutic drugs.     

中国大陆H9N2亚型禽流感病毒HA基因遗传分析及抗原相关性研究

为研究我国大陆H9N2亚型禽流感病毒血凝素(HA)基因的分子进化及抗原相关性, 本研究对来自15个省、市、自治区的34株H9N2亚型禽流感病毒的HA基因进行了测序及系统发育分析, 并采用交叉血凝抑制试验及交叉攻毒保护试验对不同遗传分支下毒株间抗原相关性进行了分析. 结果表明, 所有34个毒株HA基因均符合低致病性禽流感病毒的特征, 但毒株间变异程度增加. 系统发育分析表明, 我国大陆H9N2亚型禽流感病毒主要分为三个系列, 各系列内毒株没有明显的地区及时间特征. 抗原相关性研究表明, 不同遗传系列下的毒株其抗原相关性明显低于同一系列内部毒株间的抗原相关性, 说明我国H9N2亚型禽流感病毒抗原性差异较大. 此外, 本研究同时筛选得到了用于制备多价苗的代表毒株.     

禽流感病毒H5N1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、表达和鉴定禽流感病毒H5N1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。方法在成功克隆禽流感病毒H5N1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（49～1 587 bp）、pMET A/NA（121～1 200 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禽流感病毒H5N1 HA、NA基因序列,为禽流感病毒H5N1诊断试剂和疫苗的开发等进一步的研究提供了依据。     

禽流感病毒HSNl血凝素基因和神经氨酸酶基因在真核酵母菌中的表达毒

目的克隆、表达和鉴定禽流感病毒HSNI血凝素基因(hemaggludnin,HA)和神经氨酸酶基因(neuramidinase,NA) 序列,为制备抗体和基因T程疫苗打下基础。方法在成功克隆禽流感病毒H5NI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(49一l 587 bp)、pMET A／NA (121—1 200 bp),电转化真核酵母菌pMADl6,甲醇诱导表达,利用Ni“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禽流感病毒H5NI HA、NA基因序列,为禽流感病毒H5N1诊断试剂和疫苗的 开发等进一步的研究提供了依据。     

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.