The specificity of H1N1 antibody responses can be shifted to epitopes near the HA receptor–binding domain after sequential infections with viral strains that share homology in this region.

The hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay is the primary measurement used for identifying antigenically novel influenza virus strains. HAI assays measure the amount of reference sera required to prevent virus binding to red blood cells. Receptor binding avidities of viral strains are not usually taken into account when interpreting these assays. Here, we created antigenic maps of human H3N2 viruses that computationally account for variation in viral receptor binding avidities. These new antigenic maps differ qualitatively from conventional antigenic maps based on HAI measurements alone. We experimentally focused on an antigenic cluster associated with a single N145K hemagglutinin (HA) substitution that occurred between 1992 and 1995. Reverse-genetics experiments demonstrated that the N145K HA mutation increases viral receptor binding avidity. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) revealed that the N145K HA mutation does not prevent antibody binding; rather, viruses possessing this mutation escape antisera in HAI assays simply by attaching to cells more efficiently. Unexpectedly, we found an asymmetric antigenic effect of the N145K HA mutation. Once H3N2 viruses acquired K145, an epitope involving amino acid 145 became antigenically dominant. Antisera raised against an H3N2 strain possessing K145 had reduced reactivity to H3N2 strains possessing N145. Thus, individual mutations in HA can influence antigenic groupings of strains by altering receptor binding avidity and by changing the dominance of antibody responses. Our results indicate that it will be important to account for variation in viral receptor binding avidity when performing antigenic analyses in order to identify genuine antigenic differences among influenza virus variants.

Summary Telomeres protect the ends of cellular chromosomes. We show here that infection with herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) results in chromosomal structural aberrations at telomeres and the accumulation of telomere dysfunction-induced DNA damage foci (TIFs). At the molecular level, HSV-1 induces transcription of telomere repeat-containing RNA (TERRA), followed by the proteolytic degradation of the telomere protein TPP1, and loss of the telomere repeat DNA signal. The HSV-1 encoded E3 ubiquitin ligase ICP0 is required for TERRA transcription and facilitates TPP1 degradation. shRNA depletion of TPP1 increases viral replication, arguing that TPP1inhibits viral replication. Viral replication protein ICP8 forms foci that coincide with telomeric proteins and ICP8 null virus failed to degrade telomere DNA signal. These findings suggest that HSV-1 reorganizes telomeres to form ICP8-associated pre-replication foci and promotes viral genomic replication.

c Influenza viruses routinely acquire mutations in antigenic sites on the globular head of the hemagglutinin (HA) protein. Since these antigenic sites are near the receptor binding pocket of HA, many antigenic mutations simultaneously alter the receptor binding properties of HA. We previously reported that a K165E mutation in the Sa antigenic site of A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8) HA is associated with secondary neuraminidase (NA) mutations that decrease NA activity. Here, using reverse genetics, we show that the K165E HA mutation dramatically decreases HA binding to sialic acid receptors on cell surfaces. We sequentially passaged reverse-genetics-derived PR8 viruses with the K165E antigenic HA mutation in fertilized chicken eggs, and to our surprise, viruses with secondary NA mutations did not emerge. Instead, viruses with secondary HA mutations emerged in 3 independent passaging experiments, and each of these mutations increased HA binding to sialic acid receptors. Importantly, these compensatory HA mutations were located in the Ca antigenic site and prevented binding of Ca-specific monoclonal antibodies. Taken together, these data indicate that HA antigenic mutations that alter receptor binding avidity can be compensated for by secondary HA or NA mutations. Antigenic diversification of influenza viruses can therefore occur irrespective of direct antibody pressure, since compensatory HA mutations can be located in distinct antibody binding sites.

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) encode two critical glycoproteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase (NA). Hemagglutinin promotes viral docking onto cells via interactions with IAV’s receptor, sialic acid and NA facilitates release of newly synthesized virions by cleaving cellular and viral sialic acid. NA inhibitors, such as oseltamivir, are widely used drugs that work by binding to the active site of NA. Although oseltamivir-resistant viruses were easily generated years ago in laboratory experiments, it was widely believed that these viruses would not be able to circulate in the human population as they did not replicate efficiently. However, oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 viruses rapidly spread during the 2007–2008 IAV season and these viruses contained precisely the same exact drug-resistance mutation identified years prior, a histidine to tyrosine substitution at NA residue 274 (H274Y). Unlike the experimentally derived NA inhibitor-resistant viruses, 2007–2008 H1N1 viruses containing H274Y replicated efficiently. Bloom et al. have solved this riddle by identifying permissive NA mutations that allow viruses to tolerate H274Y. Here, we discuss these important findings and speculate how these studies may facilitate early detection of drug-resistant strains in the future.