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. 2023 Jan 21;15(2):305.
doi: 10.3390/v15020305.

Comparative Surface Electrostatics and Normal Mode Analysis of High and Low Pathogenic H7N7 Avian Influenza Viruses

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Comparative Surface Electrostatics and Normal Mode Analysis of High and Low Pathogenic H7N7 Avian Influenza Viruses

Giulia Baggio et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Influenza A viruses are rarely symptomatic in wild birds, while representing a higher threat to poultry and mammals, where they can cause a variety of symptoms, including death. H5 and H7 subtypes of influenza viruses are of particular interest because of their pathogenic potential and reported capacity to spread from poultry to mammals, including humans. The identification of molecular fingerprints for pathogenicity can help surveillance and early warning systems, which are crucial to prevention and protection from such potentially pandemic agents. In the past decade, comparative analysis of the surface features of hemagglutinin, the main protein antigen in influenza viruses, identified electrostatic fingerprints in the evolution and spreading of H5 and H9 subtypes. Electrostatic variation among viruses from avian or mammalian hosts was also associated with host jump. Recent findings of fingerprints associated with low and highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses, obtained by means of comparative electrostatics and normal modes analysis, prompted us to check whether such fingerprints can also be found in the H7 subtype. Indeed, evidence presented in this work showed that also in H7N7, hemagglutinin proteins from low and highly pathogenic strains present differences in surface electrostatics, while no meaningful variation was found in normal modes.

Keywords: HPAI; LPAI; SARS-CoV-2; electrostatic distance; fingerprint; influenza A virus; normal modes analysis; pandemic virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Electrostatic distance heatmap for single template (PDB 4DJ6) models.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Electrostatic distance heatmap for mixed template models.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Surface charge distribution of the HA RBDs from four representative HPAI and four LPAI H7N7 strains. Positive, blue; negative, red; neutral, white. Four 90° stepwise orientations are shown. Open circle, VED subregion; open rectangle, region where K122E, K182N mutations result in negativization/depositivization.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bhattacharyya coefficient (BC) heatmap for HPAI and LPAI RBDs. Uniprot AC for each sequence, followed by pathogenicity and PDB of the template, are reported on the Y axis, while a distance tree is reported on the X axis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
RMSIP heatmap for HPAI and LPAI RBDs. Uniprot AC for each sequence, followed by pathogenicity and PDB of the template are reported on the Y axis, while a distance tree is reported on the X axis.

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This research received no external funding.