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Journal of Virology, December 2005, p. 15460-15466, Vol. 79, No. 24
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.79.24.15460-15466.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

New Genotype of Avian Influenza H5N1 Viruses Isolated from Tree Sparrows in China

State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071 China,¹ Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080 China,² Beijing Genomics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101300 China,³ Shaanxi Institute of Zoology, Xi'an, 710032 China⁴

Received 28 June 2005/ Accepted 27 September 2005

The 2004 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 disease in China led to a great poultry loss and society attention. A survey of avian influenza viruses was conducted on tree sparrows (Passer montanus) collected in China in 2004. Four viruses were isolated from free-living tree sparrows. The results of the whole-genome analysis indicated that an H5N1 virus with a new genotype is circulating among tree sparrows. The hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of the new genotype were derived from Gs/Gd/96-like viruses and the nuclear protein gene descended from the 2001 genotype A H5N1 viruses, while the other inner genes originated from an unknown influenza virus. In experimental infection, all four viruses were highly pathogenic to chickens but not pathogenic to ducks or mice. The four tree sparrow viruses were different from the 2003 tree sparrow strain (genotype Z) in Hong Kong. The results suggested that H5N1 viruses might be distributed widely in tree sparrows.

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