scholarly journals Dinucleotide evolutionary dynamics in influenza A virus

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haogao Gu ◽  
Rebecca L Y Fan ◽  
Di Wang ◽  
Leo L M Poon

Abstract Significant biases of dinucleotide composition in many RNA viruses including influenza A virus have been reported in recent years. Previous studies have showed that a codon-usage-altered influenza mutant with elevated CpG usage is attenuated in mammalian in vitro and in vivo models. However, the relationship between dinucleotide preference and codon usage bias is not entirely clear and changes in dinucleotide usage of influenza virus during evolution at segment level are yet to be investigated. In this study, a Monte Carlo type method was applied to identify under-represented or over-represented dinucleotide motifs, among different segments and different groups, in influenza viral sequences. After excluding the potential biases caused by codon usage and amino acid sequences, CpG and UpA were found under-represented in all viral segments from all groups, whereas UpG and CpA were found over-represented. We further explored the temporal changes of usage of these dinucleotides. Our analyses revealed significant decrease of CpG frequency in Segments 1, 3, 4, and 5 in seasonal H1 virus after its re-emergence in humans in 1977. Such temporal variations were mainly contributed by the dinucleotide changes at the codon positions 3-1 and 2-3 where silent mutations played a major role. The depletions of CpG and UpA through silent mutations consequently led to over-representations of UpG and CpA. We also found that dinucleotide preference directly results in significant synonymous codon usage bias. Our study helps to provide details on understanding the evolutionary history of influenza virus and selection pressures that shape the virus genome.

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenakshi Tiwary ◽  
Robert J. Rooney ◽  
Swantje Liedmann ◽  
Kim S. LeMessurier ◽  
Amali E. Samarasinghe

Eosinophils, previously considered terminally differentiated effector cells, have multifaceted functions in tissues. We previously found that allergic mice with eosinophil-rich inflammation were protected from severe influenza and discovered specialized antiviral effector functions for eosinophils including promoting cellular immunity during influenza. In this study, we hypothesized that eosinophil responses during the early phase of influenza contribute to host protection. Using in vitro and in vivo models, we found that eosinophils were rapidly and dynamically regulated upon influenza A virus (IAV) exposure to gain migratory capabilities to traffic to lymphoid organs after pulmonary infection. Eosinophils were capable of neutralizing virus upon contact and combinations of eosinophil granule proteins reduced virus infectivity through hemagglutinin inactivation. Bi-directional crosstalk between IAV-exposed epithelial cells and eosinophils occurred after IAV infection and cross-regulation promoted barrier responses to improve antiviral defenses in airway epithelial cells. Direct interactions between eosinophils and airway epithelial cells after IAV infection prevented virus-induced cytopathology in airway epithelial cells in vitro, and eosinophil recipient IAV-infected mice also maintained normal airway epithelial cell morphology. Our data suggest that eosinophils are important in the early phase of IAV infection providing immediate protection to the epithelial barrier until adaptive immune responses are deployed during influenza.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (17) ◽  
pp. 8127-8136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Perez ◽  
Ruben O. Donis

ABSTRACT Influenza A virus expresses three viral polymerase (P) subunits—PB1, PB2, and PA—all of which are essential for RNA and viral replication. The functions of P proteins in transcription and replication have been partially elucidated, yet some of these functions seem to be dependent on the formation of a heterotrimer for optimal viral RNA transcription and replication. Although it is conceivable that heterotrimer subunit interactions may allow a more efficient catalysis, direct evidence of their essentiality for viral replication is lacking. Biochemical studies addressing the molecular anatomy of the P complexes have revealed direct interactions between PB1 and PB2 as well as between PB1 and PA. Previous studies have shown that the N-terminal 48 amino acids of PB1, termed domain α, contain the residues required for binding PA. We report here the refined mapping of the amino acid sequences within this small region of PB1 that are indispensable for binding PA by deletion mutagenesis of PB1 in a two-hybrid assay. Subsequently, we used site-directed mutagenesis to identify the critical amino acid residues of PB1 for interaction with PA in vivo. The first 12 amino acids of PB1 were found to constitute the core of the interaction interface, thus narrowing the previous boundaries of domain α. The role of the minimal PB1 domain α in influenza virus gene expression and genome replication was subsequently analyzed by evaluating the activity of a set of PB1 mutants in a model reporter minigenome system. A strong correlation was observed between a functional PA binding site on PB1 and P activity. Influenza viruses bearing mutant PB1 genes were recovered using a plasmid-based influenza virus reverse genetics system. Interestingly, mutations that rendered PB1 unable to bind PA were either nonviable or severely growth impaired. These data are consistent with an essential role for the N terminus of PB1 in binding PA, P activity, and virus growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone E. Adams ◽  
Vladimir Y. Lugovtsev ◽  
Anastasia Kan ◽  
Nicolai V. Bovin ◽  
Raymond P. Donnelly ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Each year, 5% to 20% of the population of the United States becomes infected with influenza A virus. Combination therapy with two or more antiviral agents has been considered a potential treatment option for influenza virus infection. However, the clinical results derived from combination treatment with two or more antiviral drugs have been variable. We examined the effectiveness of cotreatment with two distinct classes of anti-influenza drugs, i.e., neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor, laninamivir, and interferon lambda 1 (IFN-λ1), against the emergence of drug-resistant virus variants in vitro. We serially passaged pandemic A/California/04/09 [A(H1N1)pdm09] influenza virus in a human lung epithelial cell line (Calu-3) in the presence or absence of increasing concentrations of laninamivir or laninamivir plus IFN-λ1. Surprisingly, laninamivir used in combination with IFN-λ1 promoted the emergence of the E119G NA mutation five passages earlier than laninamivir alone (passage 2 versus passage 7, respectively). Acquisition of this mutation resulted in significantly reduced sensitivity to the NA inhibitors laninamivir (∼284-fold) and zanamivir (∼1,024-fold) and decreased NA enzyme catalytic activity (∼5-fold) compared to the parental virus. Moreover, the E119G NA mutation emerged together with concomitant hemagglutinin (HA) mutations (T197A and D222G), which were selected more rapidly by combination treatment with laninamivir plus IFN-λ1 (passages 2 and 3, respectively) than by laninamivir alone (passage 10). Our results show that treatment with laninamivir alone or in combination with IFN-λ1 can lead to the emergence of drug-resistant influenza virus variants. The addition of IFN-λ1 in combination with laninamivir may promote acquisition of drug resistance more rapidly than treatment with laninamivir alone.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (45) ◽  
pp. 11613-11618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Goldhill ◽  
Aartjan J. W. te Velthuis ◽  
Robert A. Fletcher ◽  
Pinky Langat ◽  
Maria Zambon ◽  
...  

Favipiravir is a broad-spectrum antiviral that has shown promise in treatment of influenza virus infections. While emergence of resistance has been observed for many antiinfluenza drugs, to date, clinical trials and laboratory studies of favipiravir have not yielded resistant viruses. Here we show evolution of resistance to favipiravir in the pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus in a laboratory setting. We found that two mutations were required for robust resistance to favipiravir. We demonstrate that a K229R mutation in motif F of the PB1 subunit of the influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) confers resistance to favipiravir in vitro and in cell culture. This mutation has a cost to viral fitness, but fitness can be restored by a P653L mutation in the PA subunit of the polymerase. K229R also conferred favipiravir resistance to RNA polymerases of other influenza A virus strains, and its location within a highly conserved structural feature of the RdRP suggests that other RNA viruses might also acquire resistance through mutations in motif F. The mutations identified here could be used to screen influenza virus-infected patients treated with favipiravir for the emergence of resistance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1934578X1701200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratika Rahmasari ◽  
Takahiro Haruyama ◽  
Siriwan Charyasriwong ◽  
Tomoki Nishida ◽  
Nobuyuki Kobayashi

Influenza A viruses are responsible for annual epidemics and occasional pandemics, which cause significant morbidity and mortality. The limited protection offered by influenza vaccination, and the emergence of drug-resistant influenza strains, highlight the urgent need for the development of novel anti-influenza drugs. However, the search for antiviral substances from the library of low molecular weight chemical compounds is limited. Thus, because of their natural diversity and accessibility, plants or plant-derived materials are rapidly becoming valuable sources for the discovery and development of new antiviral drugs. In this study, crude extracts of Aspalathus linearis, a plant reported to have anti-HIV activity, were evaluated in vitro for their activity against the influenza A virus. Of the extracts tested, an alkaline extract of Aspalathus linearis demonstrated the strongest inhibition against influenza A virus and could also inhibit different types of influenza viruses, including Oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses A and B. Our time course of addition studies indicated that the alkaline extract of Aspalathus linearis exerts its antiviral effect predominantly during the late stages of the influenza virus replication process.


2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Pica ◽  
Anna Teresa Palamara ◽  
Antonio Rossi ◽  
Alessandra De Marco ◽  
Carla Amici ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT 9-Deoxy-Δ9,Δ12-13,14-dihydro-prostaglandin D2 (Δ12-PGJ2), a natural cyclopentenone metabolite of prostaglandin D2, is shown to possess therapeutic efficacy against influenza A virus A/PR8/34 (H1N1) infection in vitro and in vivo. The results indicate that the antiviral activity is associated with induction of cytoprotective heat shock proteins and suggest novel strategies for treatment of influenza virus infection.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 3684-3693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léa Meyer ◽  
Alix Sausset ◽  
Laura Sedano ◽  
Bruno Da Costa ◽  
Ronan Le Goffic ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is composed of three subunits, PB1, PB2, and PA, catalyzes genome replication and transcription within the cell nucleus. The PA linker (residues 197 to 256) can be altered by nucleotide substitutions to engineer temperature-sensitive (ts), attenuated mutants that display a defect in the transport of the PA–PB1 complex to the nucleus at a restrictive temperature. In this study, we investigated the ability of the PA linker to tolerate deletion mutations for furtherin vitroandin vivocharacterization. Four viable mutants with single-codon deletions were generated; all of them exhibited atsphenotype that was associated with the reduced efficiency of replication/transcription of a pseudoviral reporter RNA in a minireplicon assay. Using fluorescently tagged PB1, we observed that the deletion mutants did not efficiently recruit PB1 to reach the nucleus at a restrictive temperature (39.5°C). Mouse infections showed that the four mutants were attenuated and induced antibodies that were able to protect mice from challenge with a lethal homologous wild-type virus. Serialin vitropassages of two deletion mutants at 39.5°C and 37°C did not allow the restoration of a wild-type phenotype among virus progeny. Thus, our results identify codons that can be deleted in the PA gene to engineer genetically stabletsmutants that could be used to design novel attenuated vaccines.IMPORTANCEIn order to generate genetically stable live influenza A virus vaccines, we constructed viruses with single-codon deletions in a discrete domain of the RNA polymerase PA gene. The four rescued viruses exhibited a temperature-sensitive phenotype that we found was associated with a defect in the transport of the PA–PB1 dimer to the nucleus, where viral replication occurs. Thesetsdeletion mutants were shown to be attenuated and to be able to produce antibodies in mice and to protect them from a lethal challenge. Assays to select revertants that were able to grow efficiently at a restrictive temperature failed, showing that these deletion mutants are genetically more stable than conventional substitution mutants. These results are of interest for the design of genetically stable live influenza virus vaccines.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youhua Chen

Synonymous codon usage patterns of neuraminidase (NA) gene of 64 subtypes (one is a mixed subtype) of influenza A virus found in Canada were analyzed. In total, 1422 NA sequences were analyzed. Among the subtypes, H1N1 is the prevailing one with 516 NCBI accession records, followed by H3N2, H3N8, and H4N6. The year of 2009 has the highest report records for the NA sequences in Canada, corresponding to the 2009 pandemic event. Correspondence analysis on the RSCU values of the four major subtypes showed that they had distinct clustering patterns in the two-dimensional scatter plot, indicating that different subtypes of IAV utilized different preferential codons. This subtype clustering pattern implied the important influence of natural selection, which could be further evidenced by an extremely flattened regression line in the neutrality plot (GC12 versus G3s plot) and a significant phylogenetic signal on the distribution of different subtypes in the clades of the phylogenetic tree (λ statistic). In conclusion, different subtypes of IAV showed an evolutionary differentiation on choosing different optimal codons. Natural selection played a deterministic role to structure IAV codon usage patterns in Canada.


2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 3442-3450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley N. Brown ◽  
James J. McSharry ◽  
Qingmei Weng ◽  
Elizabeth M. Driebe ◽  
David M. Engelthaler ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT One of the biggest challenges in the effort to treat and contain influenza A virus infections is the emergence of resistance during treatment. It is well documented that resistance to amantadine arises rapidly during the course of treatment due to mutations in the gene coding for the M2 protein. To address this problem, it is critical to develop experimental systems that can accurately model the selection of resistance under drug pressure as seen in humans. We used the hollow-fiber infection model (HFIM) system to examine the effect of amantadine on the replication of influenza virus, A/Albany/1/98 (H3N2), grown in MDCK cells. At 24 and 48 h postinfection, virus replication was inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion. At 72 and 96 h postinfection, virus replication was no longer inhibited, suggesting the emergence of amantadine-resistant virus. Sequencing of the M2 gene revealed that mutations appeared at between 48 and 72 h of drug treatment and that the mutations were identical to those identified in the clinic for amantadine-resistant viruses (e.g., V27A, A30T, and S31N). Interestingly, we found that the type of mutation was strongly affected by the dose of the drug. The data suggest that the HFIM is a good model for influenza virus infection and resistance generation in humans. The HFIM has the advantage of being a highly controlled system where multiplicity parameters can be directly and accurately controlled and measured.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Leahy ◽  
David C. Pritlove ◽  
Leo L. M. Poon ◽  
George G. Brownlee

ABSTRACT Short synthetic influenza virus-like RNAs derived from influenza virus promoter sequences were examined for their ability to stimulate the endonuclease activity of recombinant influenza virus polymerase complexes in vitro, an activity that is required for the cap-snatching activity of primers from host pre-mRNA. An extensive set of point mutants of the 5′ arm of the influenza A virus viral RNA (vRNA) was constructed to determine the cis-acting elements which influenced endonuclease activity. Activity was found to be dependent on three features of the conserved vRNA termini: (i) the presence of the 5′ hairpin loop structure, (ii) the identity of residues at positions 5 and 10 bases from the 5′ terminus, and (iii) the presence of base pair interactions between the 5′ and 3′ segment ends. Further experiments discounted a role for the vRNA U track in endonuclease activation. This study represents the first mutagenic analysis of the influenza virus promoter with regard to endonuclease activity.


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