Polymerase trapping as the mechanism of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus genesis - PubMed
12 hours ago
- #avian influenza
- #RNA structure
- #virus genesis
- Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) originate from H5 and H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs).
- The transition from LPAIV to HPAIV involves the insertion of a furin-cleavable multibasic cleavage site (MBCS) in the hemagglutinin gene.
- The study reveals that transient H5 RNA structures, which trap the influenza virus polymerase on purine-rich sequences, drive nucleotide insertions.
- Insertion of H5-like sequences and structures into an H6 hemagglutinin resulted in MBCS-yielding insertions.
- The findings suggest that RNA structure-driven diversity-generating mechanisms could also occur in other RNA viruses.