Edoardo Giussani, Alessandro Sartori, Angela Salom. FluMut: a tool for mutation surveillance in highly pathogenic H5N1 genomes. Virus Evolution, 2025; veaf011
Over the past century, Influenza A virus (IAV) has caused four of the five reported pandemics, all of which originated from viruses possessing genome segments of avian origin. The recent spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses, particularly the clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) subtype, has led to an alarming increase in mammalian infections, raising concerns about the potential for future pandemics. In response to this, we developed FluMut, an open-source, cross-platform tool designed to identify molecular markers with potential impacts on H5N1 virus phenotypes. FluMut leverages an up-to-date database, FluMutDB, to rapidly analyze thousands of nucleotide sequences, identifying mutations associated with host adaptation, increased virulence, and antiviral resistance. The tool is available both as a command-line interface and a user-friendly graphical interface, making it accessible to researchers with varying levels of computational expertise. FluMut provides comprehensive outputs, including tables of detected markers, their biological effects, and corresponding literature references. This tool fills a critical gap in the genomic surveillance of HPAI H5N1, facilitating real-time monitoring of viral evolution and aiding in the identification of mutations that may signal increased pandemic potential. Future updates will extend FluMut’s capabilities to other influenza subtypes.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- Generation of Nasal Cell-Derived Human Alveolar Organoids and Organoid-Macrophage Assembloids for in Vitro Lung Modeling 5 hours ago
- Determinants of the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Uptake Among People Aged 50 Years or Above During and After the Pandemic: A Systematic Review 17 hours ago
- [preprint]A GIS-based framework for standardized environmental characterization in One-Health surveillance: a case study of HPAI monitoring in wetlands 17 hours ago
- First detection and transatlantic introduction of Influenza A(H3N2) subclade K (J.2.4.1) into Ecuador: insights from genomic sentinel surveillance 18 hours ago
- Assessment of influenza virus and coronavirus tropism, replication competence and disease severity in ex vivo and in vitro cultures of the human respiratory tract 2 days ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


