Rapid quantification of single-nucleotide mutations in mixed influenza A viral populations using allele-specific mixture analysis

J Virol Methods. 2010 Jan;163(1):109-15. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2009.09.007. Epub 2009 Sep 15.

Abstract

Monitoring antiviral resistance in influenza is critical to public health epidemiology and pandemic preparedness activities. Effective monitoring requires methods to detect low-level resistance and to monitor the change in resistance as a function of time and drug treatment. Resistance-conferring single-nucleotide mutations in influenza virus are ideal targets for such methods. In the present study, fives sets of paired TaqMan allele-specific PCR (ASPCR) assays were developed and validated for quantitative single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. This novel method using Delta Ct is termed allele-specific mixture analysis (ASMA) or FluASMA. The FluASMA assays target L26F, V27A, A30T, and S31N mutations in the A/Albany/1/98 (H3N2) M2 gene and H275Y mutation in the A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1) NA gene and have a limit of quantification of 0.25-0.50% mutant. The error for % mutant estimation was less than 10% in all FluASMA assays, with intra-run Delta Ct coefficient of variance (CoV) at <or=2% and inter-run Delta Ct CoV at <or=5%. Results from the current study demonstrate that FluASMA is a highly sensitive and quantitative SNP analysis method, even for minor mutant components (<1%).

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Drug Resistance, Viral / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / drug effects
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / genetics
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / isolation & purification*
  • Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype / drug effects
  • Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype / genetics
  • Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype / isolation & purification*
  • Influenza, Human / virology*
  • Point Mutation
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*