Evaluation of Avian Influenza Isolates for Suitability as Vaccines

Approach- Recently it has been shown that under immune pressure from vaccination, antigenic drift occurs with avian influenza similarly to what has been observed with human influenza. Site directed mutagenesis will be used to make specific changes to the Mexican lineage hemagglutinin gene in a eukaryotic expression vector. How the specific changes made to the hemagglutinin gene will affect the binding of the antibody produced from the vaccine will be evaluated. Using a mapping approach, amino acid changes that are important for immunity will be identified. 23. Non-technical summary Vaccination is an effective component of bird flu control in commercial poultry. In order to develop the best vaccines, the viruses from which the vaccines are made must be characterized for their suitability as vaccines based on their growth, similarity to viruses which may be introduced into US poultry and how stable the vaccine is over time. Furthermore, since flu is a highly mutable virus, understanding which parts of the virus affect vaccine efficacy is critical to assuring that vaccines will protect poultry from as many flu strains as possible and will be performed as part of this work.