Use of fractional factorial design to study the compatibility of viral ribonucleoprotein gene segments of human H7N9 virus and circulating human influenza subtypes

• Published in: Influenza and other respiratory viruses 2014-09, Vol.8 (5), p.580-584
• Main Authors: Chin, Alex W. H., Mok, Chris K. P., Zhu, Huachen, Guan, Yi, Peiris, Joseph S. M., Poon, Leo L. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Epidemics; Fractional factorial design; Genetic research; H7N9; Humans; Influenza; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - genetics; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - metabolism; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype - genetics; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype - metabolism; Influenza A Virus, H7N9 Subtype - genetics; Influenza A Virus, H7N9 Subtype - metabolism; influenza polymerase; Influenza, Human - virology; Mutation; Pandemics; Poultry; Reassortant Viruses - genetics; Reassortant Viruses - metabolism; Respiratory diseases; Ribonucleoproteins - genetics; Ribonucleoproteins - metabolism; Short; Standard deviation; Statistical analysis; Viral Proteins - genetics; Viral Proteins - metabolism; Viruses
• ISSN: 1750-2640; 1750-2659
• DOI: 10.1111/irv.12269

Avian H7N9 influenza viruses may pose a further threat to humans by reassortment with human viruses, which could lead to generation of novel reassortants with enhanced polymerase activity. We previously established a novel statistical approach to study the polymerase activity of reassorted vRNPs (Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2013;7:969‐78). Here, we report the use of this method to study recombinant vRNPs with subunits derived from human H1N1, H3N2, and H7N9 viruses. Our results demonstrate that some reassortant vRNPs with subunits derived from the H7N9 and other human viruses can have much higher polymerase activities than the wild‐type levels.