The pattern of influenza virus attachment varies among wild bird species

Elsa Jourdain*, Debby van Riel, Vincent J. Munster, Thijs Kuiken, Jonas Waldenström, Björn Olsen, Patrik Ellström

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The ability to attach to host cells is one of the main determinants of the host range of influenza A viruses. By using virus histochemistry, we investigate the pattern of virus attachment of both a human and an avian influenza virus in colon and trachea sections from 12 wild bird species. We show that significant variations exist, even between closely related avian species, which suggests that the ability of wild birds to serve as hosts for influenza viruses strongly varies among species. These results will prove valuable to assess the possibilities of interspecies transmission of influenza viruses in natural environments and better understand the ecology of influenza.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere24155
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume6
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding:
This study was financially supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish Research Council Formas, the French Fondation pour la
Recherche Me´dicale (reference SPE20070709608) and the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study
design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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