Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak

The 2013–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa was the largest recorded. It began following the cross-species transmission of EBOV from an animal reservoir, most likely bats, into humans, with phylogenetic analysis revealing the cocirculation of several viral lineages. We hypothesized t...

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Main Authors: Urbanowicz, Richard A., McClure, C. Patrick, Sakuntabhai, Anavaj, Sall, Amadou A., Kobinger, Gary, Müller, Marcel A., Holmes, Edward C., Rey, Félix A., Simon-Loriere, Etienne, Ball, Jonathan K.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39138/
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author Urbanowicz, Richard A.
McClure, C. Patrick
Sakuntabhai, Anavaj
Sall, Amadou A.
Kobinger, Gary
Müller, Marcel A.
Holmes, Edward C.
Rey, Félix A.
Simon-Loriere, Etienne
Ball, Jonathan K.
author_facet Urbanowicz, Richard A.
McClure, C. Patrick
Sakuntabhai, Anavaj
Sall, Amadou A.
Kobinger, Gary
Müller, Marcel A.
Holmes, Edward C.
Rey, Félix A.
Simon-Loriere, Etienne
Ball, Jonathan K.
author_sort Urbanowicz, Richard A.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The 2013–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa was the largest recorded. It began following the cross-species transmission of EBOV from an animal reservoir, most likely bats, into humans, with phylogenetic analysis revealing the cocirculation of several viral lineages. We hypothesized that this prolonged human circulation led to genomic changes that increased viral transmissibility in humans. We generated a synthetic glycoprotein (GP) construct based on the earliest reported isolate and introduced amino acid substitutions that defined viral lineages. Mutant GPs were used to generate a panel of pseudoviruses, which were used to infect different human and bat cell lines. These data revealed that specific amino acid substitutions in the EBOV GP have increased tropism for human cells, while reducing tropism for bat cells. Such increased infectivity may have enhanced the ability of EBOV to transmit among humans and contributed to the wide geographic distribution of some viral lineages.
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spelling nottingham-391382020-05-04T18:22:38Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39138/ Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak Urbanowicz, Richard A. McClure, C. Patrick Sakuntabhai, Anavaj Sall, Amadou A. Kobinger, Gary Müller, Marcel A. Holmes, Edward C. Rey, Félix A. Simon-Loriere, Etienne Ball, Jonathan K. The 2013–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa was the largest recorded. It began following the cross-species transmission of EBOV from an animal reservoir, most likely bats, into humans, with phylogenetic analysis revealing the cocirculation of several viral lineages. We hypothesized that this prolonged human circulation led to genomic changes that increased viral transmissibility in humans. We generated a synthetic glycoprotein (GP) construct based on the earliest reported isolate and introduced amino acid substitutions that defined viral lineages. Mutant GPs were used to generate a panel of pseudoviruses, which were used to infect different human and bat cell lines. These data revealed that specific amino acid substitutions in the EBOV GP have increased tropism for human cells, while reducing tropism for bat cells. Such increased infectivity may have enhanced the ability of EBOV to transmit among humans and contributed to the wide geographic distribution of some viral lineages. Elsevier 2016-11-03 Article PeerReviewed Urbanowicz, Richard A., McClure, C. Patrick, Sakuntabhai, Anavaj, Sall, Amadou A., Kobinger, Gary, Müller, Marcel A., Holmes, Edward C., Rey, Félix A., Simon-Loriere, Etienne and Ball, Jonathan K. (2016) Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak. Cell, 167 (4). 1079-1087.e5. ISSN 1097-4172 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867416313964 doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.10.013 doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.10.013
spellingShingle Urbanowicz, Richard A.
McClure, C. Patrick
Sakuntabhai, Anavaj
Sall, Amadou A.
Kobinger, Gary
Müller, Marcel A.
Holmes, Edward C.
Rey, Félix A.
Simon-Loriere, Etienne
Ball, Jonathan K.
Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title_full Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title_fullStr Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title_full_unstemmed Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title_short Human adaptation of Ebola virus during the West African outbreak
title_sort human adaptation of ebola virus during the west african outbreak
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39138/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39138/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39138/