title: Genomic signatures of human versus avian influenza A viruses.
abstract: Position-specific entropy profiles created from scanning 306 human and 95 avian influenza A viral genomes showed that 228 of 4591 amino acid residues yielded significant differences between these 2 viruses. We subsequently used 15,785 protein sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to assess the robustness of these signatures and obtained 52 "species-associated" positions. Specific mutations on those points may enable an avian influenza virus to become a human virus. Many of these signatures are found in NP, PA, and PB2 genes (viral ribonucleoproteins [RNPs]) and are mostly located in the functional domains related to RNP-RNP interactions that are important for viral replication. Upon inspecting 21 human-isolated avian influenza viral genomes from NCBI, we found 19 that exhibited > or =1 species-associated residue changes; 7 of them contained > or =2 substitutions. Histograms based on pairwise sequence comparison showed that NP disjointed most between human and avian influenza viruses, followed by PA and PB2.
authors.affiliation: Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guang-Wu
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shih-Cheng
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chee-keng
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.forename: Yu-Luan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Yu-Nong
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Kung
authors.forename: Ji-Hung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yun-Han
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Ji-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chiayn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: Chi-Jene
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shin-Ru
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Shih
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D053126:Influenza A Virus, H7N7 Subtype / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D053127:Influenza A Virus, H9N2 Subtype / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000821:virology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins