Cold adapted variants of influenza A

Abstract

The genetic and biological properties of 13 recombinant influenza A clones derived at 25°C from the A/AA/6/60-cold variant (by crosses with 4 different wild type strains) were compared with a set of 5-FU induced ts -mutants. The 5-FU mutants had previously been placed into 7 complementation-recombination groups; the A/AA/6/60-cold parent (PI-7) and the 12 cold recombinant clones which were ts were shown to share a lesion with only one of these groups. The parental strain and 5 recombinant clones were evaluated for replication in the lungs and nasal turbinates of hamsters. Each virus appeared to be attenuated; genetic stability correlated with the level of viral replication in the hamster lung, i.e., viruses which grew best showed a tendency to revert to the ts + phenotype. Characterization of the ts + revertants for the presence of the cold adaptation property revealed that these viruses exhibited a spectrum of cold adaptation properties. Two viruses, PI-7 (the parental cold variant) and the CR6 recombinant (A/Queensland/6/72) did not revert in either the lungs or nasal turbinates of hamsters.