H5N1禽流感病毒 z-bio 2025-02-05 828

　Cross species transmission mechanism of H5N1 avian influenza virus in cattle transmission

　　Under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (approval number: 92478001) and other programs, Gao Fu, academician of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with Professor Wang Ningli, Chief Physician Sun Lei, and Associate Researcher Song Hao of Capital Medical University, made breakthroughs in the analysis of the structure of bovine hemagglutinin and cross species transmission mechanism of H5N1 avian influenza virus. The research results, titled "Receptor binding, structure, and tissue tropism of cattle infecting H5N1 avian influenza virus hemagglutinin", were published in the journal Cell on January 22, 2025. The paper link is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.01.019
     The hemagglutinin (HA) protein of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) has long been considered to have strict receptor specificity, mainly binding to avian alpha 2-3 sialic acid receptors. However, the outbreak of H5N1 in North American dairy herds since 2024 and subsequent human infections have challenged this traditional understanding. The research team used interdisciplinary methods such as structural biology, receptor binding dynamics, and histological analysis to analyze high-resolution structural receptor complexes of bovine H5N1 HA with avian and human receptor complexes. The receptor binding characteristics and structural basis of H5N1 HA were elucidated, and the molecular mechanism of H5NA1 HA's weak binding ability with human α 2-6 was revealed. This provides important scientific basis for the systematic analysis of the cross species transmission characteristics of the novel H5N1 virus and the monitoring and prevention of global animal derived influenza viruses.