Commentary
H1N1
in Japan Matches the United States
Recombinomics Commentary
16:36
January 7, 2009
HA gene is one of three amino acid substitution (G204V, A208T, H211R) are, NA gene is an indicator of the stock H275Y oseltamivir resistance is recognized by amino acid substitution, M2 and the stock index of amantadine-resistant gene S31N amino acid substitution could not be accepted.
The above translation describes an influenza outbreak among elementary school students in October, 2008 in Sendai, Japan. The Japan NIH report includes phylogenetic analysis of HA, NA, and MP of three isolates (A/Sendai/103/2008, A/Sendai/104/2008, A/Sendai/105/2008) from the students.
The three isolates are identical to each other and are the Brisbane/59 sub-clade 2B with H274Y. The HA sequences have three changes flanking position 190 (H3 numbering). These three changes, G189V, A193T, H196R, match the three changes in isolates collected this season from Hawaii, Texas, and Pennsylvania, which supports the data released by WHO indicating H274Y levels in Japan were approaching 100% in H1N1 isolates, as was seen in North America and Europe.
These results highlight the role of a dominant sub-clade in the spread and fixing H274Y. It is also notable that the R at position 196 matches the change in H5N1 isolates from a fatal cluster in Iraq. Position 196 is one of the receptor binding domain changes that increases affinity for gal 2,6 receptors relative to wild type H5N1.
The emergence of a distinct H1N1 sub-clade has led to the fixing of H274Y, which has significant implications for seasonal and pandemic flu because SNPs are readily exchanged by homologous recombination, and H274Y creates oseltamivir resistance in H1N1 and H5N1.
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