Gene mutations can cause rare severe flu

A study of a French girl and her parents showed that a genetic mutation that was previously unknown and would destroy the body's immune system could trigger a rare but potentially life-threatening child's flu.

Gene mutations can cause rare severe flu

According to a survey published in the American Journal of Science, genetic mutations may be the root cause of severe flu in children. Most people get cured after a week with the flu, but the flu can become a very serious disease, even in some rare cases, which is fatal, and the results are confusing for doctors.

The Human Infectious Disease Genetics Laboratory, a researcher at the United States-French International Joint Laboratory, puts forward the hypothesis that serious flu in healthy children may be the result of genetic errors. To test this hypothesis, in January 2011, they were given a genome-wide determination of a seven-year-old child who was infected with severe flu at the age of two and a half after obtaining the consent of the child intensive care unit.

The University of Hong Kong has designed a gene against influenza virus that can effectively prevent and treat the flu.

The University of Hong Kong announced that its microbiology experts have used viral genes and proteins to develop drugs that effectively inhibit influenza virus. According to reports, the research team spent more than three years to design influenza DIG3 (defective interference gene), which can effectively inhibit the growth of influenza virus in cells, and is not easy to produce drug resistance. In addition, the research team designed a new protein called TAT-P1 as a gene carrier, which can not only introduce DIG3 into the cell to inhibit the growth of the virus, but also inhibit the virus replication by inhibiting the acidification of the cell endosomes, and exert a dual antiviral effect.

The University of Hong Kong has designed a gene against influenza virus that can effectively prevent and treat the flu.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong found that injecting DIG3/TAT-P1 into the respiratory tract of mice one or two days before the laboratory mice were infected with H1N1 human influenza virus or H7N7 avian influenza virus or 6 hours after infection, it could effectively improve the survival rate of mice. Inhibits the growth of the virus in the lungs of mice. This shows that DIG3/TAT-P1 can effectively prevent and treat influenza.

Science: The new influenza gene

Brett Jagger and Paul Digard from the University of Edinburgh discovered a new flu gene that hides the 12 genes we know of in the past. This new gene, called PA-X, affects how the viral host reacts to the virus. Curiously, it seems to reduce the severity of the infection.

Science: The new influenza gene

I can write down the entire genome of the flu virus that exists in about one hundred birds, which is only 14,000 bases compared to the human gene, which contains more than 3 billion bases. However, this tiny genetic material is enough to kill thousands of people. Although sequencing is done again and again, we still have a lot of unknowns about it.

A study published in Science magazine is an excellent illustration of the depth of our ignorance. Brett Jagger and Paul Digard from the University of Edinburgh discovered a new flu gene that hides the 12 genes we know of in the past.

This new gene, called PA-X, affects how the viral host reacts to the virus. Curiously, it seems to reduce the severity of the infection. Virologist Ron Fouchier said: "This is indeed an exciting discovery in the flu field." Dendard's old colleague, flu researcher Wendy Barclay from Imperial College London, said: "How can we miss it? It highlights these genomes. How dense is it."

For the first time in history, the influenza virus gene can finally be detected directly in its original RNA form.

The latest technology allows the flu virus to be sequenced for the first time in the form of its original RNA. The genetic code of the influenza virus, like other viruses, is stored in RNA, so if you want to measure its gene sequence, it can only be obtained by sequencing the reverse-transcribed DNA under the previous limited technology. However, this new invention uses nanopore sequencing technology to directly read out its RNA sequence as it passes through a tiny molecular pump.

For the first time in history, the influenza virus gene can finally be detected directly in its original RNA form.

“This is the first time in history that we can look at the original form of the gene,” says microbiologist John Barnes of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Barnes led the study and published a pre-release of the paper on BioRxiv on April 12. He said: "This will bring a lot of possibilities for subsequent research."

Barnes and his team are most interested in studying the genes of viruses. Other studies involve RNA in various tissues and organs, as well as RNA in humans. Researchers have long wanted to elucidate their role in cellular function by measuring molecular modifications on RNA, but it has been difficult to conduct such experiments.

“The biggest breakthrough this invention will bring is the ability to discover RNA modifications that are transformative,” said Ewan Birney, co-director of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).