Use of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Gain-Of-Function Studies for Molecular-Based Surveillance and Pandemic Preparedness

Davis, C. Todd; Chen, Li-Mei; Pappas, Claudia; Stevens, James; Tumpey, Terrence M.; Gubareva, Larisa V.; Katz, Jacqueline M.; Villanueva, Julie M.; Donis, Ruben O.; Cox, Nancy J.

Ongoing H5N1 circulation has appropriately resulted in a focus on sequencing viral genomes to understand the evolution of these viruses and the significance of observed genetic changes. Expanded laboratory capacity for high-throughput Sanger sequencing and recent technological advances, such as nextgeneration sequencing and parallel computing, have revolutionized the quantity, quality, and availability of gene sequences and our ability to quickly and accurately analyze these data (3) . Consequently, the number of animal and human influenza virus sequences available in publically accessible databases has dramatically increased over the years, as have the bioinformatics tools required for efficient investigation (4, 5) . These advances in laboratory and analytical methods provide strong incentives to utilize molecular data for pandemic risk assessment of zoonotic influenza viruses at the animal-human interface (6) .