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Review
. 2017 Jan;11(1):74-84.
doi: 10.1111/irv.12412. Epub 2016 Aug 8.

The ecology and adaptive evolution of influenza A interspecies transmission

Udayan Joseph  1 , Yvonne C F Su  1 , Dhanasekaran Vijaykrishna  1   2 , Gavin J D Smith  1   3
Affiliations
Review

The ecology and adaptive evolution of influenza A interspecies transmission

Udayan Joseph et al. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Since 2013, there have been several alarming influenza-related events; the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 viruses into North America, the detection of H10N8 and H5N6 zoonotic infections, the ongoing H7N9 infections in China and the continued zoonosis of H5N1 viruses in parts of Asia and the Middle East. The risk of a new influenza pandemic increases with the repeated interspecies transmission events that facilitate reassortment between animal influenza strains; thus, it is of utmost importance to understand the factors involved that promote or become a barrier to cross-species transmission of Influenza A viruses (IAVs). Here, we provide an overview of the ecology and evolutionary adaptations of IAVs, with a focus on a review of the molecular factors that enable interspecies transmission of the various virus gene segments.

Keywords: adaptation; pandemic; zoonotic.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diversity and host distribution of influenza A viruses (IAVs). Maximum‐likelihood (ML) estimation of the haemagglutinin (HA) gene sequences of all subtypes of IAVs downloaded from the NCBI GenBank database. Overall data set randomly subsampled to include 200 isolates per subtype per host for the tree reconstruction. External branches of tree coloured by the major host groups from which the virus has been isolated from: avian (blue), canine (purple), chiropteran (pink), equine (brown), human (red), swine (amber) and other incidental hosts (black). Scale for branch length represents number of nucleotide substitution per site (subs/site) in the HA alignment
Figure 2
Figure 2
Significant interspecies transmission of influenza A viruses (IAVs). Representative diagram of interspecies transmission events of IAVs and the subtypes involved in these events. Solid arrows represent direct transmission events that have since been established in the host species. Dashed arrows represent sporadic or limited infection of subtypes where sustained transmission in the new host has not been detected
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