Publication Date:
2001-09-08
Description:
When gene sequences from the influenza virus that caused the 1918 pandemic were first compared with those of related viruses, they yielded few clues about its origins and virulence. Our reanalysis indicates that the hemagglutinin gene, a key virulence determinant, originated by recombination. The "globular domain" of the 1918 hemagglutinin protein was encoded by a part of a gene derived from a swine-lineage influenza, whereas the "stalk" was encoded by parts derived from a human-lineage influenza. Phylogenetic analyses showed that this recombination, which probably changed the virulence of the virus, occurred at the start of, or immediately before, the pandemic and thus may have triggered it.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gibbs, M J -- Armstrong, J S -- Gibbs, A J -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Sep 7;293(5536):1842-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. mark.gibbs@anu.edu.au〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11546876" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Evolution, Molecular
;
Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism
;
Humans
;
Influenza A virus/*genetics/*pathogenicity
;
Influenza, Human/*epidemiology/*virology
;
Monte Carlo Method
;
Mutation/genetics
;
Phylogeny
;
Protein Structure, Tertiary
;
Recombination, Genetic/*genetics
;
Swine/virology
;
United States/epidemiology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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