Kelleher, Justin; Costa, Rodrigo; Potts, Wayne (University of Utah)
Faculty Advisor: Potts, Wayne (University of Utah, School of Biological Sciences)
Influenza A Virus (IAV) is a highly adaptable pathogen with the ability to cross over into different host species. Theory predicts that when a pathogen adapts to specific host genotypes, it loses virulence when encountering novel genotypes. This study focuses on whether influenza virulence is lost when infecting novel host genotypes. To test whether influenza adaptation to different genotypes leads to viral fitness and virulence tradeoffs, IAV was adapted to 2 strains of mouse via serial passage and subsequently tested against the host of passage (familiar) and in the novel host (unfamiliar). After 10 rounds of passage, IAV virulence increased in the familiar host. However, when adapted IAV strains were used to infect unfamiliar hosts, influenza virulence effects were mitigated, but not to a statistically significant degree. This study helps elucidate why different barriers to infection, including novel host genotypes, affect IAV virulence and fitness. Studying genotype-dependent virulence tradeoffs focuses can further research on more effective Influenza control in epidemiological, agricultural and conservation settings.