JVI Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Zhou, N. N.
Right arrow Articles by Webster, R. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Zhou, N. N.
Right arrow Articles by Webster, R. G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 3366-3374, Vol. 73, No. 4
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Rapid Evolution of H5N1 Influenza Viruses in Chickens in Hong Kong

Nan Nan Zhou,1,2 Kennedy F. Shortridge,3 Eric C. J. Claas,4 Scott L. Krauss,1 and Robert G. Webster1,*

Department of Virology and Molecular Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 381051; Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong,3 and Department of Microbiology, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang,2 People's Republic of China; and Department of Virology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands4

Received 9 October 1998/Accepted 4 January 1999

The H5N1 avian influenza virus that killed 6 of 18 persons infected in Hong Kong in 1997 was transmitted directly from poultry to humans. Viral isolates from this outbreak may provide molecular clues to zoonotic transfer. Here we demonstrate that the H5N1 viruses circulating in poultry comprised two distinguishable phylogenetic lineages in all genes that were in very rapid evolution. When introduced into new hosts, influenza viruses usually undergo rapid alteration of their surface glycoproteins, especially in the hemagglutinin (HA). Surprisingly, these H5N1 isolates had a large proportion of amino acid changes in all gene products except in the HA. These viruses maybe reassortants each of whose HA gene is well adapted to domestic poultry while the rest of the genome arises from a different source. The consensus amino acid sequences of "internal" virion proteins reveal amino acids previously found in human strains. These human-specific amino acids may be important factors in zoonotic transmission.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Virology and Molecular Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N. Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105. Phone: (901) 495-3400. Fax: (901) 523-2622. E-mail: robert.webster{at}stjude.org.

Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 3366-3374, Vol. 73, No. 4
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Mol. Cell. Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.