Synthesis and function of influenza A virus glycoproteins

The surface glycoproteins of influenza A viruses are the viral components first recognized by the immune system of the infected host, and they are the viral proteins first to contact the infecting cell. Cleavage of the hemagglutinin (HA) is the presupposition for the uptake and fusion between viral and endosomal membranes at a relatively low pH. If this cleavage does not occur during synthesis and migration within the cell, an external trypsin-like protease has to activate the virus with a non-cleaved HA. This latter property is presumably the reason, why such a large reservoir of non-pathogenic influenza A viruses could be built up in water fowl. Especially feral ducks can disseminate influenza viruses along their flight routes all over the world. The role of the neuraminidase (NA) in the infectious process is not so clear. Its main task in the natural infection seems to be removal of mucoids at the site of entry and in this way to start the primary infection. The synthesis of the viral proteins is a highly regulated process. There is not only a transcriptional but also a translational control. The viral glycoproteins belong to the late proteins. Specifically their synthesis can be inhibited by compounds acting in completely different ways like a specific methylase inhibitor (3DA-Ado), a protein phosphokinase C inhibitor (H7), or a lipid solvent (DMSO). It remains to be determined whether the underlining mechanism is in all these cases the same, namely posttranscriptional modification of viral mRNA. All these viral components do not act separately but they cooperate in their functions and sometimes interfere with each other.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)