Sensitive and direct detection of receptor binding specificity of highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus in clinical samples

Tadanobu Takahashi; Tatsuya Kawakami; Takashi Mizuno; Akira Minami; Yuko Uchida; Takehiko Saito; Shigeyuki Matsui; Makoto Ogata; Taichi Usui; Nongluk Sriwilaijaroen; Hiroaki Hiramatsu; Yasuo Suzuki; Takashi Suzuki

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078125

Sensitive and direct detection of receptor binding specificity of highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus in clinical samples

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 18;8(10):e78125. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078125. eCollection 2013.

Authors

Tadanobu Takahashi¹, Tatsuya Kawakami, Takashi Mizuno, Akira Minami, Yuko Uchida, Takehiko Saito, Shigeyuki Matsui, Makoto Ogata, Taichi Usui, Nongluk Sriwilaijaroen, Hiroaki Hiramatsu, Yasuo Suzuki, Takashi Suzuki

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan.

Abstract

Influenza A virus (IAV) recognizes two types of N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) by galactose (Gal) linkages, Neu5Acα2,3Gal and Neu5Acα2,6Gal. Avian IAV preferentially binds to Neu5Acα2,3Gal linkage, while human IAV preferentially binds to Neu5Acα2,6Gal linkage, as a virus receptor. Shift in receptor binding specificity of avian IAV from Neu5Acα2,3Gal linkage to Neu5Acα2,6Gal linkage is generally believed to be a critical factor for its transmission ability among humans. Surveillance of this shift of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian IAV (HPAI) is thought to be a very important for prediction and prevention of a catastrophic pandemic of HPAI among humans. In this study, we demonstrated that receptor binding specificity of IAV bound to sialo-glycoconjugates was sensitively detected by quantifying the HA gene with real-time reverse-transcription-PCR. The new assay enabled direct detection of receptor binding specificity of HPAIs in chicken clinical samples including trachea and cloaca swabs in only less than 4 h.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Birds
Glycoconjugates / chemistry
Glycoconjugates / metabolism
Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / metabolism
Humans
Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / metabolism
Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / pathogenicity
Influenza A virus / metabolism*
Influenza A virus / pathogenicity*
Influenza in Birds / metabolism*
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / chemistry
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / metabolism
Protein Binding
Receptors, Virus / chemistry
Receptors, Virus / metabolism

Substances

Glycoconjugates
Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus
Receptors, Virus
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid

Grants and funding

This work was supported, in part, by a MEXT/JSPS KAKENHI Grant (Number C; 23590549) and by a grant of Research and development projects for application in promoting new policy of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.