Giuseppe
Emeritus
J Clin Microbiol. 2009 Nov 25. [Epub ahead of print]
Occurrence of Mixed Populations of Influenza A Viruses in One Host that Can Be Maintained through Transmission and the Potential for Reassortant.
Furuse Y, Suzuki A, Kishi M, Nukiwa N, Shimizu M, Sawayama R, Fuji N, Oshitani H. - Department of Virology, Tohoku University, Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Reassortment, which is the rearrangement of viral gene segments in a host cell infected with two different viruses, is an important mechanism for the evolution of influenza viruses. A mixed infection of plural viruses could lead to reassortment. To better understand the occurrence of quasispecies in one host, we investigated mixed infection in individual isolates for seasonal influenza A viruses using amantadine sensitivity as a marker. We cultured viruses with amantadine, and performed sequencing, RFLP, cloning, and quantitative PCR to detect mixed population. Culturing with amantadine shows evidence of a high number of mixed populations, while the other assays can hardly detect mixed populations. The existence of quasispecies in each isolate is common. However, the proportion of these, which can be less than 1%, is too low to be detected by conventional methods. Such mixed populations, in which reassortment occurs, may have a significant role in the evolution of viruses.
PMID: 19940049 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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Occurrence of Mixed Populations of Influenza A Viruses in One Host that Can Be Maintained through Transmission and the Potential for Reassortant.
Furuse Y, Suzuki A, Kishi M, Nukiwa N, Shimizu M, Sawayama R, Fuji N, Oshitani H. - Department of Virology, Tohoku University, Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Reassortment, which is the rearrangement of viral gene segments in a host cell infected with two different viruses, is an important mechanism for the evolution of influenza viruses. A mixed infection of plural viruses could lead to reassortment. To better understand the occurrence of quasispecies in one host, we investigated mixed infection in individual isolates for seasonal influenza A viruses using amantadine sensitivity as a marker. We cultured viruses with amantadine, and performed sequencing, RFLP, cloning, and quantitative PCR to detect mixed population. Culturing with amantadine shows evidence of a high number of mixed populations, while the other assays can hardly detect mixed populations. The existence of quasispecies in each isolate is common. However, the proportion of these, which can be less than 1%, is too low to be detected by conventional methods. Such mixed populations, in which reassortment occurs, may have a significant role in the evolution of viruses.
PMID: 19940049 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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