Sequence analysis of the 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus haemagglutinin gene from 2009-2010 Brazilian clinical samples

Ferreira, João Leandro de Paula
Borborema, Samanta Etel Treiger
Brígido,Luis Fernando de Macedo
de Oliveira, Maria Isabel
de Paiva, Terezinha Maria
dos Santos, Cecília Luiza Simões

Publication date

October 2011

Publisher

University of Toronto Medical Journal

Abstract

In this paper, we analysed the haemagglutinin (HA) gene identified by polymerase chain reaction from 90 influenza A H1N1 virus strains that circulated in Brazil from April 2009-June 2010. A World Health Organization sequencing protocol allowed us to identify amino acid mutations in the HA protein at positions S220T (71%), D239G/N/S (20%), Y247H (4.5%), E252K (3.3%), M274V (2.2%), Q310H (26.7%) and E391K (12%). A fatal outcome was associated with the D239G mutation (p < 0.0001). Brazilian HA genetic diversity, in comparison to a reference strain from California, highlights the role of influenza virus surveillance for study of viral evolution, in addition to monitoring the spread of the virus worldwide