About this item:

56 Views | 28 Downloads

Author Notes:

Daniel R. Perez, dperez@uga.edu; Tel.: +1-706-5838-919

L.O. conception of the work, collected and processed field samples, performed sequencing, analyzed data, and wrote and edited the manuscript. G.G. performed sequencing and edited the manuscript. D.M. (David Moran) collected field samples and edited the manuscript. D.M. (Dione Mendez) collected field samples and edited the manuscript. L.F. edited the manuscript. A.S.G.-R. edited the manuscript. D.A. edited the manuscript. M.M. performed initial virus isolation and edited the manuscript. F.E. performed initial virus isolation and edited the manuscript. C.C.-R. conception of the work and edited the manuscript. D.R. edited the manuscript. M.I.N. edited the manuscript. D.R.P. conception of the work, analyzed data, and wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This research was funded by a subcontract from the Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis (CRIP) to DRP under contract HHSN272201400008C from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Centers for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS). Special thanks to the Georgia Research Alliance and the Georgia Poultry Federation through the Caswell S. Eidson in Poultry Medicine endowment funds. This study was also supported in part by resources and technical expertise from the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center, a partnership between the University of Georgia’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. This study was supported in part through the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Intramural Research Program (National Library of Medicine).

Keywords:

  • avian influenza
  • blue-winged teals
  • H14 subtype
  • Guatemala
  • surveillance

Blue-Winged Teals in Guatemala and Their Potential Role in the Ecology of H14 Subtype Influenza a Viruses

Show all authors Show less authors

Tools:

Journal Title:

Viruses-Basel

Volume:

Volume 15, Number 2

Publisher:

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Wild aquatic birds are considered the natural hosts of 16 HA (H1–H16) and 9 NA (N1–N9) subtypes of influenza A viruses (FLUAV) found in different combinations. H14 FLUAVs are rarely detected in nature. Since 2011, H14 FLUAVs have been consistently detected in Guatemala, leading to the largest collection of this subtype from a single country. All H14 FLUAVs in Guatemala were detected from blue-winged teal samples. In this report, 17 new full-length H14 FLUAV genome sequences detected from 2014 until 2019 were analyzed and compared to all published H14 sequences, including Guatemala, North America, and Eurasia. The H14 FLUAVs identified in Guatemala were mostly associated with the N3 subtype (n = 25), whereas the rest were paired with either N4 (n = 7), N5 (n = 4), N6 (n = 1), and two mixed infections (N3/N5 n = 2, and N2/N3 n = 1). H14 FLUAVs in Guatemala belong to a distinct H14 lineage in the Americas that is evolving independently from the Eurasian H14 lineage. Of note, the ORF of the H14 HA segments showed three distinct motifs at the cleavage site, two of these containing arginine instead of lysine in the first and fourth positions, not previously described in other countries. The effects of these mutations on virus replication, virulence, and/or transmission remain unknown and warrant further studies.

Copyright information:

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Export to EndNote