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Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) or haemagglutinin[p] (British English) is a glycoprotein found on the surface of influenza viruses. Being a class I fusion protein, it is responsible for binding the virus to cells with sialic acid on the membranes, such as cells in the upper respiratory tract or erythrocytes. It is also responsible for the fusion of the viral envelope with the endosome membrane, after the pH has been reduced. The name "hemagglutinin" comes from the protein's ability to cause red blood cells (erythrocytes) to clump together ("agglutinate") in vitro.
Influenza A can be categorized based on the different subtype of proteins present: Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA).[1] HA has at least 18 different subtypes. These subtypes are named H1 through H18. H16 was discovered in 2004 on influenza A viruses isolated from black-headed gulls from Sweden and Norway . H17 was discovered in 2012 in fruit bats.[2][3] Most recently, H18 was discovered in a Peruvian bat in 2013.[4] The first three hemagglutinins, H1, H2, and H3, are found in human influenza viruses. Neuraminidase (NA) has 11 known subtypes, hence influenza virus is named as H1N1, H5N2 etc., depending on the combinations of HA and NA.
A highly pathogenic avian flu virus of H5N1 type has been found to infect humans at a low rate. It has been reported that single amino acid changes in this avian virus strain's type H5 hemagglutinin have been found in human patients that "can significantly alter receptor specificity of avian H5N1 viruses, providing them with an ability to bind to receptors optimal for human influenza viruses".[5][6] This finding seems to explain how an H5N1 virus that normally does not infect humans can mutate and become able to efficiently infect human cells. The hemagglutinin of the H5N1 virus has been associated with the high pathogenicity of this flu virus strain, apparently due to its ease of conversion to an active form by proteolysis.[7][8]
General Structure
HA1
HA2
HA plays two key functions in viral entry. Firstly, it allows the recognition of target vertebrate cells, accomplished through the binding to these cells' sialic acid-containing receptors. Secondly, once bound it facilitates the entry of the viral genome into the target cells by causing the fusion of host endosomal membrane with the viral membrane.[18]
Specifically, HA1 domain of the protein binds to the monosaccharide sialic acid which is present on the surface of its target cells, allowing attachment of viral particle to the host cell surface. The host cell membrane then engulfs the virus, a process known as endocytosis, and pinches off to form a new membrane-bound compartment within the cell called an endosome. The cell then attempts to begin digesting the contents of the endosome by acidifying its interior and transforming it into a lysosome. Once the pH within the endosome drops to about 5.0 to 6.0, a series of conformational rearrangement occurs to the protein. First, fusion peptide is released from the hydrophobic pocket and HA1 is dissociated from HA2 domain. HA2 domain then undergoes extensive conformation change that eventually bring the two membranes into close contact.
This so-called "fusion peptide" that was released as pH is lowered, acts like a molecular grappling hook by inserting itself into the endosomal membrane and locking on. Then, HA2 refolds into a new structure (which is more stable at the lower pH), it "retracts the grappling hook" and pulls the endosomal membrane right up next to the virus particle's own membrane, causing the two to fuse together. Once this has happened, the contents of the virus such as viral RNA are released in the host cell's cytoplasm and then transported to the host cell nucleus for replication.[19]
Since hemagglutinin is the major surface protein of the influenza A virus and is essential to the entry process, it is the primary target of neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies against flu have been found to act by two different mechanisms, mirroring the dual functions of hemagglutinin: