+44-1518-081136Determinant of receptor-preference switch in influenza hemagglutinin
International Virology Conference
October 30-31, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
Qinghua Wang, Fengyun Ni and Elena Kondrashkina
Baylor College of Medicine, USA Northwestern University, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : Virol Res J
Abstract:
Hemagglutinin (HA) is one of the two major glycoproteins on the surface of influenza virus. One main function of HA is to selectively bind to sialic-acid receptors on host cells to trigger viral entry by endocytosis. There are two types of sialic-acid receptors that HA recognizes: (2,3)-linked avian-like receptors and (2,6)-linked human-like receptors. Frequently, a small number of substitutions in HA would endorse a switch in receptor-binding specificity from avian-like to human-like receptors, thus allowing cross-species transmission. However, the set of residues required for such a receptor-binding specificity switch differs among various subtypes of influenza type A virus. In my talk, I will discuss the results of our most recent study in understanding the underlying principles of this process.
Biography:
Qinghua Wang has completed her Bachelor’s degree at Peking University in China and PhD degree at University of Cambridge in Britain. She then received Post-doctoral training at Harvard University. She is an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Her laboratory has made seminal contributions to our understanding of influenza type A and type B virus hemagglutinin.
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