Workpackage 3

Receptor specificity and interspecies transmission

Workpackage 3 (WP3) will address the issue of virus-receptor interactions with the goal to determine the role of receptor specificity and neuraminidase activity of avian viruses in interspecies transmission, pathogenicity and emergence of potentially new pandemic strains. Different receptor phenotypes might provide the virus with an enhanced potential for interspecies transmission to pigs and humans. Molecular mechanisms for avian-to-avian, avian-to-pig and avian-to-human transmission will be studied by using different cells and tissues including tracheal explants from chickens, turkeys and ducks, and cultures of human airway epithelium.

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