Another article looking at H5N1 PB2 position 627. This paper reinforces the idea that passage in mammalian hosts provides sufficient selective pressure for the E627K substitution, which in turn results in increased virulence in mammals.
http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/87/12/3655
(J Gen Virol 87 (2006), 3655-3659; DOI 10.1099/vir.0.81843-0)
Recent H5N1 avian Influenza A virus increases rapidly in virulence to mice after a single passage in mice
Masaji Mase, Nobuhiko Tanimura, Tadao Imada, Masatoshi Okamatsu, Kenji Tsukamoto and Shigeo Yamaguchi
Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, 3-1-5 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan
To evaluate the potential pathogenicity to mammals of the recent H5N1 avian Influenza A virus, viruses recovered from dead mice infected with A/chicken/Yamaguchi/7/2004 isolated in Japan were examined. All recovered viruses from the brains of dead mice infected with this strain (without any prior adaptation to mice) had substituted the amino acid at position 627 of the PB2 protein from glutamic acid to lysine. Their mouse lethality had increased by approximately 5x104 times over that of the original virus. Histopathological analysis reinforced the finding that these variants caused more rapid and severe damage to mice than the original virus. This revealed that it might be useful to characterize the recovered virus to assess its potential pathogenicity to mammals.
http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/87/12/3655
(J Gen Virol 87 (2006), 3655-3659; DOI 10.1099/vir.0.81843-0)
Recent H5N1 avian Influenza A virus increases rapidly in virulence to mice after a single passage in mice
Masaji Mase, Nobuhiko Tanimura, Tadao Imada, Masatoshi Okamatsu, Kenji Tsukamoto and Shigeo Yamaguchi
Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, 3-1-5 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan
To evaluate the potential pathogenicity to mammals of the recent H5N1 avian Influenza A virus, viruses recovered from dead mice infected with A/chicken/Yamaguchi/7/2004 isolated in Japan were examined. All recovered viruses from the brains of dead mice infected with this strain (without any prior adaptation to mice) had substituted the amino acid at position 627 of the PB2 protein from glutamic acid to lysine. Their mouse lethality had increased by approximately 5x104 times over that of the original virus. Histopathological analysis reinforced the finding that these variants caused more rapid and severe damage to mice than the original virus. This revealed that it might be useful to characterize the recovered virus to assess its potential pathogenicity to mammals.