Liang CY, Huang I, Han J, Sownthirarajan B, Kulhan. Avian influenza A viruses exhibit plasticity in sialylglycoconjugate receptor usage in human lung cells. J Virol. 2023 Oct 16:e0090623
Influenza A viruses (IAV) utilize sialic acid (Sia) containing cell surface glycoconjugates for host cell infection, and IAV strains from different host species show preferences for structurally distinct Sia at the termini of glycoconjugates. Various types of cell surface glycoconjugates (N-glycans, O-glycans, glycolipids) display significant diversity in both structure and carbohydrate composition. To define the types of sialylglycoconjugates that facilitate IAV infection, we utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 technique to truncate the three major types of glycoconjugates, either individually or in combination, by targeting glycosyltransferases essential to glycan biosynthesis in a human lung epithelial cell line. Our studies show that both human and avian IAV strains do not display strict preferences for a specific type of glycoconjugate. Interestingly, truncation of the three major types of glycoconjugates significantly decreased replication of human IAV strains, yet did not impact replication of avian IAV strains. Unlike human IAV strains, avian IAV strains were able to efficiently utilize other less prevalent shorter glycoconjugates such as sialyl Tn and sialyl T antigens. Taken together, our studies demonstrate that avian IAV strains utilize a broader repertoire of glycoconjugates for host cell infection as compared to human IAV strains. IMPORTANCE It is well known that influenza A viruses (IAV) initiate host cell infection by binding to sialic acid, a sugar molecule present at the ends of various sugar chains called glycoconjugates. These sugar chains can vary in chain length, structure, and composition. However, it remains unknown if IAV strains preferentially bind to sialic acid on specific glycoconjugate type(s) for host cell infection. Here, we utilized CRISPR gene editing to abolish sialic acid on different glycoconjugate types in human lung cells, and evaluated human versus avian IAV infections. Our studies show that both human and avian IAV strains can infect human lung cells by utilizing any of the three major sialic acid-containing glycoconjugate types, specifically N-glycans, O-glycans, and glycolipids. Interestingly, simultaneous elimination of sialic acid on all three major glycoconjugate types in human lung cells dramatically decreased human IAV infection, yet had little effect on avian IAV infection. These studies show that avian IAV strains effectively utilize other less prevalent glycoconjugates for infection, whereas human IAV strains rely on a limited repertoire of glycoconjugate types. The remarkable ability of avian IAV strains to utilize diverse glycoconjugate types may allow for easy transmission into new host species.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- Birth cohort effects in adults associated with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine effectiveness 12 hours ago
- Genetic Characterization of Swine Influenza Viruses in Thailand in 2019-2025 Reveals Novel Reassortants 12 hours ago
- Outbreak dynamics of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b euBB, in black-headed gulls and common terns in Germany in 2023 13 hours ago
- [preprint]The canine respiratory epithelium is a permissive ecosystem for influenza interspecies transmission and emergence 13 hours ago
- [preprint]Explainable and Calibrated AI for Decoding Host-Adaptive Changes in Influenza A Virus 13 hours ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


