Rapid preparation of mutated influenza hemagglutinins for influenza virus pandemic prevention

Influenza viruses have periodically caused pandemic due to frequent mutation of viral proteins. Influenza viruses have two major membrane glycoproteins: hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Hemagglutinin plays a crucial role in viral entry, while NA is involved in the process of a viral escape. In terms of developing antiviral drugs, HA is a more important target than NA in the prevention of pandemic, since HA is likely to change the host specificity of a virus by acquiring mutations, thereby to increase the risk of pandemic. To characterize mutated HA functions, current approaches require immobilization of purified HA on plastic wells and carriers. These troublesome methods make it difficult to respond to emerging mutations. In order to address this problem, a yeast cell surface engineering approach was investigated. Using this technology, human HAs derived from various H1N1 subtypes were successfully and rapidly displayed on the yeast cell surface. The yeast-displayed HAs exhibited similar abilities to native influenza virus HAs. Using this system, human HAs with 190E and 225G mutations were shown to exhibit altered recognition specificities from human to avian erythrocytes. This system furthermore allowed direct measurement of HA binding abilities without protein purification and immobilization. Coupled with the ease of genetic manipulation, this system allows the simple and comprehensive construction of mutant protein libraries on yeast cell surface, thereby contributing to influenza virus pandemic prevention.