tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2014 Nov 10. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3362. [Epub ahead of print]
Enabling the 'host jump': structural determinants of receptor-binding specificity in influenza A viruses.
Shi Y1, Wu Y2, Zhang W2, Qi J2, Gao GF3.
Author information
Abstract
The recent emergence of the H7N9 avian influenza A virus and its ability to infect humans emphasize the epidemic and pandemic potential of these viruses. Interspecies transmission is the result of many factors, which ultimately lead to a change in the host tropism of the virus. One of the key factors involved is a shift in the receptor-binding specificity of the virus, which is mostly determined by mutations in the viral haemagglutinin (HA). In this Review, we discuss recent crystallographic studies that provide molecular insights into HA-host receptor interactions that have enabled several influenza A virus subtypes to 'jump' from avian to human hosts.
PMID:
25383601
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25383601
Enabling the 'host jump': structural determinants of receptor-binding specificity in influenza A viruses.
Shi Y1, Wu Y2, Zhang W2, Qi J2, Gao GF3.
Author information
Abstract
The recent emergence of the H7N9 avian influenza A virus and its ability to infect humans emphasize the epidemic and pandemic potential of these viruses. Interspecies transmission is the result of many factors, which ultimately lead to a change in the host tropism of the virus. One of the key factors involved is a shift in the receptor-binding specificity of the virus, which is mostly determined by mutations in the viral haemagglutinin (HA). In this Review, we discuss recent crystallographic studies that provide molecular insights into HA-host receptor interactions that have enabled several influenza A virus subtypes to 'jump' from avian to human hosts.
PMID:
25383601
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25383601