Isolation and molecular characterization of equine H3N8 influenza viruses from pigs in China

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 154; no. 5; pp. 887 - 890
• Main Authors: Tu, Jiagang, Zhou, Hongbo, Jiang, Taozhen, Li, Chun, Zhang, Anding, Guo, Xuebo, Zou, Wei, Chen, Huanchun, Jin, Meilin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.05.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Amino Acid Substitution; Amino acids; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brief Report; China - epidemiology; Epidemics; Evolution, Molecular; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Viral; Genome, Viral; Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus - genetics; Hogs; Infectious Diseases; Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype - classification; Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype - genetics; Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype - isolation & purification; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Orthomyxoviridae Infections - epidemiology; Orthomyxoviridae Infections - veterinary; Orthomyxoviridae Infections - virology; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Respiratory diseases; RNA, Viral - genetics; Sequence Alignment; Swine - virology; Swine Diseases - epidemiology; Swine Diseases - virology; swine influenza virus; Virology; Viruses; Asia; China; Switzerland; Austria; H3N8 Influenza Virus; Swine Influenza Virus; Influenza Virus; H3N8 Virus; Gene Segment; Infection; Vertebrata; Farming animal; Mammalia; Swine; Viral disease; Isolation; Artiodactyla; Veterinary; Equine influenza; Ungulata; Pig
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-009-0381-1

During 2004–2006 swine influenza virus surveillance, two strains of H3N8 influenza viruses were isolated from pigs in central China. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of eight gene segments revealed that the two swine isolates were of equine origin and most closely related to European equine H3N8 influenza viruses from the early 1990s. Comparison of hemagglutinin (HA) amino acid sequences showed several important substitutions. One substitution caused the loss of a potential glycosylation site, and two substitutions, located at the cleavage site and adjacent to the receptor-binding pocket, respectively, had been reported previously in canine H3 HAs. This expansion of host range of equine H3N8 influenza viruses with mutations in the HA protein might raise the possibility of transmission of these viruses to humans.