Influence of single amino acid substitutions in the hemagglutinin on the antigenic and receptor-binding properties of influenza virus B/Florida/04/2006 of Yamagata-like evolutionary lineage

Influenza A and B viruses use sialylated oligosaccharide chains expressed on the surface of a host cell as the cell entry receptors. The type of the bond between sialic acid (SA) and the neighboring galactose residue (Gal) is one of the main characteristics that define the type of receptor. Influenza viruses recognize SAα2-3Gal- or SAα2-6Gal-structures on the surface of the cells. Influenza A viruses of avian origin bind α2-3-sialylated glycans, while the human strains bind preferentially α2-6-sialylated ones. However, the receptor-binding specificity of influenza B viruses has not been characterized sufficiently so far. In this study, we selected the escape mutants of influenza B/Florida/04/2006 strain (Yamagata-like lineage) using monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to hemagglutinin (HA). The analysis of the amino acid sequences of mAb-induced escape mutants revealed the single amino acid substitutions 40Tyr→His, 85His→Tyr, 202Asn→Lys and 242Ser→Arg in 10F4-, 8Н11-, 8Н3- and 9А3-induced HA variants, correspondingly. It was shown that the single amino acid substitutions 202Asn→Lys and 242Ser→Arg alter the receptor-binding specificity of the influenza B virus. These findings are important for the understanding of the influence of individual amino acid residues in HA on the receptor-binding properties of influenza B Yamagata-like lineage viruses and allow us to predict the possible ways of their evolution