Award details

Studentship: 'Defining the genetic characteristics of infectivity, replication and virulence for H9N2 viruses affecting poultry

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001981
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Munir Iqbal
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Holly Shelton
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	24,755
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	13/04/2015
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	23 months

Abstract

Avian influenza (AI) viruses circulating in poultry continually undergo evolutionary adaptive changes. These adaptive changes may affect their cellular tropism, entry, replication, release of progeny virions or the ability to circumvent the host antiviral responses, resulting in alterations to infectivity, virulence and transmission of the virus. Recently, we and other research groups have identified a number of novel H9N2 genotype viruses that have become widely established in poultry in many countries in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East [1,2]. These are reassortant viruses that contain internal genes from highly pathogenic (HPAI) H7N3 and H5N1 viruses and have substantial increases in their infection rates, virus shedding, clinical disease signs and transmissibility in chickens as compared to their likely progenitor viruses belonging to (A/Quail/ Hong Kong/G1/97) lineage ([3-5] and unpublished data). This increased pathogenicity is likely due to the different virus gene constellation acquired from the H7 and H5 HPAI viruses. In this project, comparative sequence information from reassortant and progenitor viruses will be used to map the genetic requirements that cause the reassortant viruses to display increased infectivity, replication and pathogenicity. Utilising the influenza virus reverse genetic system, mutant viruses will be constructed where whole segments or point mutations will be made in viral segments and used to observe any differential variations. The biological and pathological behaviour of these variant genes will then be assessed firstly in vitro (using both cDNA transfection of individual virus genes and the creation of recombinant viruses) followed up by in vivo experiments with selected interesting mutant viruses. These studies will ultimately enable us to assign the viral gene segments and any specific motifs in them that drive an increase in virulence of these H9N2 viruses in chickens.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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