Affiliation:
1. MedImmune Vaccines, 297 North Bernardo Ave., Mountain View, California 94043
2. Department of Epidemiology, 109 Observatory St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Cold-adapted (
ca
) B/Ann Arbor/1/66 is the influenza B virus strain master donor virus for FluMist, a live, attenuated, influenza virus vaccine licensed in 2003 in the United States. Each FluMist vaccine strain contains six gene segments of the master donor virus; these master donor gene segments control the vaccine's replication and attenuation. These gene segments also express characteristic biological traits in model systems. Unlike most virulent wild-type (wt) influenza B viruses,
ca
B/Ann Arbor/1/66 is temperature sensitive (
ts
) at 37°C and attenuated (
att
) in the ferret model. In order to define the minimal genetic components of these phenotypes, the amino acid sequences of the internal genes of
ca
B/Ann Arbor/1/66 were aligned to those of other influenza B viruses. These analyses revealed eight unique amino acids in three proteins: two in the polymerase subunit PA, two in the M1 matrix protein, and four in the nucleoprotein (NP). Using reverse genetics, these eight wt amino acids were engineered into a plasmid-derived recombinant of
ca
B/Ann Arbor/1/66, and these changes reverted both the
ts
and the
att
phenotypes. A detailed mutational analysis revealed that a combination of two sites in NP (A114 and H410) and one in PA (M431) controlled expression of
ts
, whereas these same changes plus two additional residues in M1 (Q159 and V183) controlled the
att
phenotype. Transferring this genetic signature to the divergent wt B/Yamanashi/166/98 strain conferred both the
ts
and the
att
phenotypes on the recombinant, demonstrating that this small, complex, genetic signature encoded the essential elements for these traits.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Virology,Insect Science,Immunology,Microbiology
Cited by
79 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献