在经过数月的争论之后，Nature 5月2日在线发表了美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校Yoshihiro Kawaoka小组的变异禽流感研究论文。
Kawaoka说，该研究表明，比关注特殊突变更重要的是筛选突变所带来的性状。
去年，Kawaoka小组和荷兰伊拉兹马斯医学中心Ron Fouchier小组在实验室分别研发出人造致命性禽流感病毒H5N1。由于可能对人类的危害性，美国国家生物安全科学顾问委员会（NSABB）要求其保密部分研究细节，并对其实验数据进行了再评估。NSABB于今年3月30日在评估后表示，支持相关研究论文在修改后发表。美国政府也在4月表示同意发表该论文。
此外，荷兰政府近日也同意Fouchier小组将修改手稿递交给《科学》杂志。
Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets
Masaki Imai,1 Tokiko Watanabe,1, 2 Masato Hatta,1 Subash C. Das,1 Makoto Ozawa,1, 3 Kyoko Shinya,4 Gongxun Zhong,1 Anthony Hanson,1 Hiroaki Katsura,5 Shinji Watanabe,1, 2 Chengjun Li,1 Eiryo Kawakami,2 Shinya Yamada,5 Maki Kiso,5 Yasuo Suzuki,6 Eileen A. Maher,1 Gabriele Neumann1 & Yoshihiro Kawaoka1, 2, 3, 5
Highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza A viruses occasionally infect humans, but currently do not transmit efficiently among humans. The viral haemagglutinin (HA) protein is a known host-range determinant as it mediates virus binding to host-specific cellular receptors1, 2, 3. Here we assess the molecular changes in HA that would allow a virus possessing subtype H5 HA to be transmissible among mammals. We identified a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus—comprising H5 HA (from an H5N1 virus) with four mutations and the remaining seven gene segments from a 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus—that was capable of droplet transmission in a ferret model. The transmissible H5 reassortant virus preferentially recognized human-type receptors, replicated efficiently in ferrets, caused lung lesions and weight loss, but was not highly pathogenic and did not cause mortality. These results indicate that H5 HA can convert to an HA that supports efficient viral transmission in mammals; however, we do not know whether the four mutations in the H5 HA identified here would render a wholly avian H5N1 virus transmissible. The genetic origin of the remaining seven viral gene segments may also critically contribute to transmissibility in mammals. Nevertheless, as H5N1 viruses continue to evolve and infect humans, receptor-binding variants of H5N1 viruses with pandemic potential, including avian–human reassortant viruses as tested here, may emerge. Our findings emphasize the need to prepare for potential pandemics caused by influenza viruses possessing H5 HA, and will help individuals conducting surveillance in regions with circulating H5N1 viruses to recognize key residues that predict the pandemic potential of isolates, which will inform the development, production and distribution of effective countermeasures.
文献链接：https://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=452195
