TY - JOUR

T1 - Ecology of avian influenza viruses in migratory birds wintering within the Yangtze River wetlands

AU - Wang, Decheng

AU - Li, Mingxin

AU - Xiong, Chaochao

AU - Yan, Yi

AU - Hu, Juefu

AU - Hao, Mengchan

AU - Liang, Bilin

AU - Chen, Jing

AU - Chen, Guang

AU - Yang, Guoxiang

AU - Li, Yong

AU - Zhang, Jun

AU - Gulyaeva, Marina

AU - Shestopalov, Alexander

AU - Shi, Weifeng

AU - Bi, Yuhai

AU - Liu, Haizhou

AU - Wang, Hanzhong

AU - Liu, Di

AU - Chen, Jianjun

N1 - This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81961138013, 31570026, 31970174, 31970548, and 32061123001), the National Mega Project on Major Infectious Disease Prevention (2017ZX10103005-005), the Special Project of Ministry of Science and Technology (2013FY113500), and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research-National Natural Science Foundation of China Collaboration Fund (19-54-55004). We thank Juxiang Liu (Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Weiliang Song (College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University), and Lei Zhang (Center for Instrumental Analysis and Metrology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for their technical assistance. We thank the data submitters from the GISAID and GenBank Flu databases for the AIV sequences. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Science China Press

PY - 2021/10/15

Y1 - 2021/10/15

N2 - Migratory birds are considered natural reservoirs of avian influenza A viruses (AIVs). To further our viral ecology knowledge and understand the subsequent risk posed by wild birds, we conducted a 4-year surveillance study of AIVs in the bird wintering wetlands of the Yangtze River, China. We collected over 8000 samples and isolated 122 AIV strains. Analyses were then carried out with 108 novel sequenced genomes and data were deposited in GISAID and other public databases. The results showed that the Yangtze River wintering wetlands functioned as a mixing ground, where various subtypes of AIVs were detected harboring a high diversity of nucleotide sequences; moreover, a portion of AIV gene segments were persistent inter-seasonally. Phylogenetic incongruence presented complex reassortment events and distinct patterns among various subtypes. In addition, we observed that viral gene segments in wintering wetlands were closely related to known North American isolates, indicating that intercontinental gene flow occurred. Notably, highly pathogenic H5 and low pathogenic H9 viruses, which usually circulate in poultry, were found to have crossed the poultry/wild bird interface, with the viruses introduced to wintering birds. Overall, this study represented the largest AIV surveillance effort of wild birds within the Yangtze River wintering wetlands. Surveillance data highlighted the important role of wintering wild birds in the ecology of AIVs and may enable future early warnings of novel AIV emergence.

AB - Migratory birds are considered natural reservoirs of avian influenza A viruses (AIVs). To further our viral ecology knowledge and understand the subsequent risk posed by wild birds, we conducted a 4-year surveillance study of AIVs in the bird wintering wetlands of the Yangtze River, China. We collected over 8000 samples and isolated 122 AIV strains. Analyses were then carried out with 108 novel sequenced genomes and data were deposited in GISAID and other public databases. The results showed that the Yangtze River wintering wetlands functioned as a mixing ground, where various subtypes of AIVs were detected harboring a high diversity of nucleotide sequences; moreover, a portion of AIV gene segments were persistent inter-seasonally. Phylogenetic incongruence presented complex reassortment events and distinct patterns among various subtypes. In addition, we observed that viral gene segments in wintering wetlands were closely related to known North American isolates, indicating that intercontinental gene flow occurred. Notably, highly pathogenic H5 and low pathogenic H9 viruses, which usually circulate in poultry, were found to have crossed the poultry/wild bird interface, with the viruses introduced to wintering birds. Overall, this study represented the largest AIV surveillance effort of wild birds within the Yangtze River wintering wetlands. Surveillance data highlighted the important role of wintering wild birds in the ecology of AIVs and may enable future early warnings of novel AIV emergence.

KW - Avian influenza viruses

KW - Migratory birds

KW - Yangtze River wetlands

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104073663&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scib.2021.03.023

DO - 10.1016/j.scib.2021.03.023

M3 - Article

C2 - 36654171

AN - SCOPUS:85104073663

VL - 66

SP - 2014

EP - 2024

JO - Science Bulletin

JF - Science Bulletin

SN - 2095-9273

IS - 19

ER -