Abstract
New reassortant H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses were isolated from waterfowl in Southern China. Blast analysis demonstrated that the PB2 gene in these viruses were most closely related to A/wild duck/Shangdong/628/2011 (H5N1), while their NP genes were both more closely related to A/wild duck/Shandong/1/2011 (H5N1) and A/duck/Jiangsu/k1203/2010 (H5N8). However, the HA, NA, PB1, PA, M, and NS genes had the highest identity with A/duck/Jiangsu/k1203/2010 (H5N8). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that their HA genes belonged to the same GsGd H5 clade 2.3.4.4 detected in China in 2010. Therefore, we supposed that these H5N8 viruses might be novel reassortant viruses that have a H5N8 backbone while acquiring PB2 and NP genes from H5N1 viruses. This study is useful for better understanding the genetic and antigenic evolution of H5 avian influenza viruses in Southern China.
Highlights
Aquatic birds, including wild and domestic waterfowl, are the original reservoir of influenza A viruses, which provide the genetic diversity of influenza viruses and contribute to create new human and bird pandemic influenza viruses (Yoon et al, 2014)
The H5N8 avian influenza virus (AIV) have been previously found in Asia, Europe, and North America
Our results demonstrated that the PB2 gene of these viruses had the highest identity with A/wild duck/Shangdong/628/2011 (H5N1); their NP genes were both more closed to A/wild duck/Shandong/1/2011 (H5N1) and A/duck/Jiangsu/k1203/2010 (H5N8); the other genes were more close to A/duck/Jiangsu/k1203/2010 (H5N8)
Summary
Aquatic birds, including wild and domestic waterfowl, are the original reservoir of influenza A viruses, which provide the genetic diversity of influenza viruses and contribute to create new human and bird pandemic influenza viruses (Yoon et al, 2014). Domestic ducks and geese are regarded as intermediate agencies between the aquatic bird and terrestrial poultry in the influenza virus ecosystem (Huang et al, 2010). In 1996, the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) (A/goose/Guangdong/ 1/1996) was first isolated from sick geese during an outbreak in Guangdong of China (Xu et al, 1999). In 1997, the GSGD/96-like H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) caused eighteen infected patients and six dead persons in Hong Kong of China, which was first reported that H5N1 AIV transmitted from birds to humans (Claas et al, 1998; Subbarao et al, 1998; Xu et al, 1999).
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