title: Genetic characterization of the NS gene indicates co-circulation of two sub-lineages of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of H5N1 subtype in Northern Europe in 2006.
abstract: The non-structural (NS) gene of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype (HPAI-H5N1) isolated in Baltic Sea area of Sweden in 2006 was studied. The phylogenetic analysis data demonstrated that two distinct sub-lineages of HPAI-H5N1 were circulating during the outbreak in Northern Europe in Spring 2006. Sub-lineage I viruses fell into the same clade as viruses found in Denmark and Germany and formed a sub-clade which also included viruses isolated in the Russian Federation in late 2005. Sub-lineage II viruses formed a sub-clade closely related to European, Middle Eastern and African isolates reported in 2006. Analysis of the inferred amino acid sequences of the NS1 protein showed a deletion of five amino acids at positions 80-84. No viruses represented in this study contained Glu92 in the NS1 and all isolates contained the avian-like ESKV amino acid sequences at the NS1 C-terminal end. Sub-lineage I isolates contained unique substitutions V194I in NS1 and G63E in Nuclear export protein (NEP).
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Joint Research and Development in Virology, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), Ulls väg 2B, 751 89 Uppsala, Sweden siamak.zohari@sva.se
authors.forename: Siamak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zohari
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gyarmati
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thorén
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Czifra
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bröjer
authors.forename: Sándor
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belák
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berg
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology; D039223:Cleavage And Polyadenylation Specificity Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005814:Genes, Viral; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D039102:Poly(A)-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D039223:Cleavage And Polyadenylation Specificity Factor; C085820:INS1 protein, influenza virus; D039102:Poly(A)-Binding Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins