Comparative analysis of Hemagglutinin of 2013 H3N2 Influenza A virus Indicates its Evolution from 1968 H3N2 Pandemic Influenza A virus

Swatantra Kumar, Vimal K Maurya, Sneham Tiwari, Amit K Banerjee, Neelima Arora, Sai V Chitti, Debadatta Nayak, Anil Khurana, Raj K Manchanda, Srinivasulu Gadugu and Shailendra K Saxena*

Emergence of influenza A H3N2 is alarming. Strain 2013 H3N2 has H1 subtype Haemagglutinin (HA) gene segment replaced with a H3 HA gene segment. The vulnerability of the humans to H3 may be directly proportional to the HA alterations. Therefore, we studied this strain and analyzed its sequence and structural divergence and compared it with 2009 H3N1, 2009 H1N1 and its ancestor 1968 H3N2, including 11 other strains from 1918 till 2013. Our analysis showed a maximum sequence similarity between 2013 H3N2 and 1968 H3N2. The amino acid sequence variation of 2013 H3N2 was, 15% with 1968 H3N2, 27% with 2009 H3N1, 60% with 2009 H1N1. Phylogenetic distance of 0.01709 of 2013 H3N2, 0.01118 of 2012 H3N2, 0.01422 of 1968 H3N2, from the origin explained evolution of 2013 H3N2 strain. Glycosylation analysis indicates that influenza 2013 H3N2 has been found similar to 2009 H3N1 and 1968 H3N2 with five similar sites. Antigenic analysis shows that 2013 H3N2 contains different antigenic sites explaining evolution. Comparison of RMSD and hydrogen bonds displayed minimal difference in influenza 2013 H3N2 and 1968 H3N2. Protein disorder regions were found overlapping the antigenic sites in influenza 2013 H3N2 sequences stating the destabilization of antigenic epitopes. Our analyses show the evidence of the evolution of 2013 H3N2 from 1968 H3N2 pandemic, expressing that 2013 H3N2 might be highly virulent strain, tough to be targeted by drugs potently being responsible for pandemics in near future. 

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Published on: Feb 28, 2020 Pages: 1-15

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/apm.000012
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