Intraepidemic variants of influenza virus H3 hemagglutinin differing in the number of carbohydrate side chains.
During the epidemic outbreak in the region of Greifswald in the winter 1974/75, we found influenza virus variants which showed differences in the electrophoretic mobility of HA. Among the 25 isolates 13 were of slower and 12 of higher mobility. HA1 of 6 isolates was studied by determining the number of the carbohydrate side chains and by direct sequencing of vRNA. Evidence is presented that variants showing a slower electrophoretic mobility of HA1 had consistently acquired a seventh carbohydrate side chain at Asn 126 in epitope A. All the isolates differed from the reference strain A/Port Chalmers/1/73 by the loss of the oligosaccharide at Asn 81. The field strain A/Dresden/3/71 possessed only 5 oligosaccharides in HA1. These results suggest that changes in glycosylation are an important mechanism in the structural variation underlying antigenic drift of HA.
Seidel
W
W
Institut für medizinische Mikrobiologie, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Greifswald, Federal Republic of Germany.
Künkel
F
F
Geisler
B
B
Garten
W
W
Herrmann
B
B
Döhner
L
L
Klenk
H D
HD
D000940:Antigenic Variation; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006031:Glycosylation; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis*
D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D009844:Oligosaccharides