Reassortment with Dominant Chicken H9N2 Influenza Virus Contributed to the Fifth H7N9 Virus Human Epidemic

H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) is regarded as a principal donor of viral genes through reassortment to cocirculating influenza viruses that can result in zoonotic reassortants. Whether H9N2 virus can maintain a sustained evolutionary impact on such reassortants is unclear. Since 2013, avian H7N9 virus had caused five sequential human epidemics in China; the fifth wave in 2016 to 2017 was by far the largest, but the mechanistic explanation behind the scale of infection is not clear. Here, we found that just prior to the fifth H7N9 virus epidemic, H9N2 viruses had phylogenetically mutated into new subclades, changed antigenicity, and increased their prevalence in chickens vaccinated with existing H9N2 vaccines. In turn, the new H9N2 virus subclades of PB2 and PA genes, housing mammalian adaptive mutations, were reassorted into cocirculating H7N9 virus to create a novel dominant H7N9 virus genotype that was responsible for the fifth H7N9 virus epidemic. H9N2-derived PB2 and PA genes in H7N9 virus conferred enhanced polymerase activity in human cells at 33 degrees C and 37 degrees C and increased viral replication in the upper and lower respiratory tracts of infected mice, which could account for the sharp increase in human cases of H7N9 virus infection in the 2016-2017 epidemic. The role of H9N2 virus in the continual mutation of H7N9 virus highlights the public health significance of H9N2 virus in the generation of variant reassortants of increasing zoonotic potential. IMPORTANCE Avian H9N2 influenza virus, although primarily restricted to chicken populations, is a major threat to human public health by acting as a donor of variant viral genes through reassortment to cocirculating influenza viruses. We established that the high prevalence of evolving H9N2 virus in vaccinated flocks played a key role as a donor of new subclade PB2 and PA genes in the generation of a dominant H7N9 virus genotype (genotype 72 [G72]) with enhanced infectivity in humans during the 2016-2017 H7N9 virus epidemic. Our findings emphasize that the ongoing evolution of prevalent H9N2 virus in chickens is an important source, via reassortment, of mammalian adaptive genes for other influenza virus subtypes. Thus, close monitoring of the prevalence and variants of H9N2 virus in chicken flocks is necessary for the detection of zoonotic mutations.

Automated summary

H9N2 avian influenza virus plays a significant role in the evolution of cocirculating influenza viruses, leading to the fifth wave of H7N9 virus epidemic; H7N9 virus originates from the mutation of PB2 and PA genes derived from H9N2 virus, enhancing its infectivity in humans.