Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Apr;48(2):273-82.
doi: 10.1007/s11262-013-1011-2. Epub 2013 Nov 23.

Recombinant influenza A H3N2 viruses with mutations of HA transmembrane cysteines exhibited altered virological characteristics

Jianqiang Zhou  1 , Shun Xu, Jun Ma, Wen Lei, Kang Liu, Qiliang Liu, Yida Ren, Chunyi Xue, Yongchang Cao
Affiliations

Recombinant influenza A H3N2 viruses with mutations of HA transmembrane cysteines exhibited altered virological characteristics

Jianqiang Zhou et al. Virus Genes. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

Influenza A H3N2 virus as the cause of 1968 pandemic has since been circulating in human and swine. Our earlier study has shown that mutations of one or two cysteines in the transmembrane domain of H3 hemagglutinin (HA) affected the thermal stability and fusion activity of recombinant HA proteins. Here, we report the successful generation of three recombinant H3N2 mutant viruses (C540S, C544L, and 2C/SL) with mutations of one or two transmembrane cysteines of HA in the background of A/swine/Guangdong/01/98 [H3N2] using reverse genetics, indicating that the mutated cysteines were not essential for virus assembly and growth. Further characterization revealed that recombinant H3N2 mutant viruses exhibited larger plaque sizes, increased growth rate in cells, enhanced fusion activity, reduced thermal and acidic resistances, and increased virulence in embryonated eggs. These results demonstrated that the transmembrane cysteines (C540 and C544) in H3 HA have profound effects on the virological features of H3N2 viruses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Nov 29;108(48):19359-64 - PubMed
    1. Adv Virus Res. 1988;34:247-81 - PubMed
    1. J Virol. 2002 May;76(9):4603-11 - PubMed
    1. Cell. 1992 Feb 21;68(4):635-45 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Aug 3;96(16):9345-50 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources