Emergence of amantadine-resistant avian influenza H5N1 virus in India.
This study reports the genetic characterization of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus (subtype H5N1) isolated from poultry in West Bengal, India. We analyzed all the eight genome segments of two viruses isolated from chickens in January 2010 to understand their genetic relationship with other Indian H5N1 isolates and possible connection between different outbreaks. The hemagglutinin (HA) gene of the viruses showed multiple basic amino acids at the cleavage site, a marker for high virulence in chickens. Of greatest concern was that the viruses displayed amino acid substitution from serine-to-asparagine at position 31 of M2 ion channel protein suggesting emergence of amantadine-resistant mutants not previously reported in HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in India. Amino acid lysine at position 627 of the PB2 protein highlights the risk the viruses possess to mammals. In the phylogenetic trees, the viruses clustered within the lineage of avian isolates from India (2008-2009) and avian and human isolates from Bangladesh (2007-2009) in all the genes. Both these viruses were most closely related to the viruses from 2008 in West Bengal within the subclade 2.2.3 of H5N1 viruses.
High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Anand Nagar, Bhopal, India. chakradhar.tosh@gmail.com
C
C
Tosh
H V
HV
Murugkar
S
S
Nagarajan
S
S
Tripathi
M
M
Katare
R
R
Jain
R
R
Khandia
Z
Z
Syed
P
P
Behera
S
S
Patil
D D
DD
Kulkarni
S C
SC
Dubey
D000547:Amantadine / Q000494:pharmacology; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D001216:Asparagine / Q000235:genetics; D002645:Chickens / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D012694:Serine / Q000235:genetics; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins
D000547:Amantadine; D001216:Asparagine; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D009439:Neuraminidase; D012367:RNA, Viral; D012694:Serine; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; C488937:M2 protein, Influenza A virus; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins