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Case Reports
. 2024 Jun 19;16(6):983.
doi: 10.3390/v16060983.

Genetic Reassortment in a Child Coinfected with Two Influenza B Viruses, B/Yamagata Lineage and B/Victoria-Lineage Strains

Affiliations
Case Reports

Genetic Reassortment in a Child Coinfected with Two Influenza B Viruses, B/Yamagata Lineage and B/Victoria-Lineage Strains

Yoko Matsuzaki et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

We identified a child coinfected with influenza B viruses of B/Yamagata and B/Victoria lineages, in whom we analyzed the occurrence of genetic reassortment. Plaque purification was performed using a throat swab specimen from a 9-year-old child, resulting in 34 well-isolated plaques. The genomic composition of eight gene segments (HA, NA, PB1, PB2, PA, NP, M, and NS genes) for each plaque was determined at the lineage level. Of the 34 plaques, 21 (61.8%) had B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata)-like sequences in all gene segments, while the other 13 (38.2%) were reassortants with B/Texas/02/2013 (B/Victoria)-like sequences in 1-5 of the 8 segments. The PB1 segment had the most B/Victoria lineage genes (23.5%; 8 of 34 plaques), while PB2 and PA had the least (2.9%; 1 of 34 plaques). Reassortants with B/Victoria lineage genes in 2-5 segments showed the same level of growth as viruses with B/Yamagata lineage genes in all segments. However, reassortants with B/Victoria lineage genes only in the NA, PB1, NP, or NS segments exhibited reduced or undetectable growth. We demonstrated that various gene reassortments occurred in a child. These results suggest that simultaneous outbreaks of two influenza B virus lineages increase genetic diversity and could promote the emergence of new epidemic strains.

Keywords: coinfection; influenza B virus; reassortant; reassortment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of a specimen (B126) collected from a patient coinfected with two influenza B virus lineages. Plaque purification (A). Genomic composition of the 34 plaques at the lineage level (B). The color of each lineage matches that of the reference strains, B/Phuket/3073/2013 (all segments are B/Yamagata) and B/Texas/02/2013 (all segments are B/Victoria). N/A: not applicable.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic analysis of the eight segments of reassortants derived from a B126 specimen collected from a patient coinfected with two influenza B virus lineages. The HA lineages of B126 viruses are indicated by magenta ovals for B/Victoria and green ovals for B/Yamagata. The successive vaccine strains of the B/Victoria and B/Yamagata lineages are shown in red and blue, respectively. Genetic reassortants having B/Victoria lineage HA detected from 2002 to 2003 are indicated by red asterisks, and those having B/Yamagata lineage HA detected from 2014 to 2015 are indicated by blue asterisks. Black stars indicate the strains isolated in Japan in 2016 and after 2016. HA lineage is shown after each strain name.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic analysis of the eight segments of reassortants derived from a B126 specimen collected from a patient coinfected with two influenza B virus lineages. The HA lineages of B126 viruses are indicated by magenta ovals for B/Victoria and green ovals for B/Yamagata. The successive vaccine strains of the B/Victoria and B/Yamagata lineages are shown in red and blue, respectively. Genetic reassortants having B/Victoria lineage HA detected from 2002 to 2003 are indicated by red asterisks, and those having B/Yamagata lineage HA detected from 2014 to 2015 are indicated by blue asterisks. Black stars indicate the strains isolated in Japan in 2016 and after 2016. HA lineage is shown after each strain name.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Replication kinetics of reassortants derived from B126 specimen on MDCK cells. The growth kinetics of B126-2 (all segments are B/Yamagata lineage) and the indicated reassortants, in which five segments had B/Victoria lineage genes (A), three or four segments had B/Victoria genes (B), and one or two segments had B/Victoria genes (C), were compared. The genomic composition of the reassortants at the lineage level is shown below the graph.

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