Functional Analysis of the 60-Nucleotide Duplication in the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Buenos Aires Strain Attachment Glycoprotein

Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important pathogen for infants for which there is no vaccine. Different strains of RSV circulate from year to year, and the predominating strains change over time. Subgroup B RSV strains with a duplication in the attachment glycoprotein (G) emerged and then became the dominant B genotype. We found that a recombinant virus harboring the duplication bound more efficiently to cells and was more fit than a recombinant strain lacking the duplication. Our work advances a mechanism for an important natural RSV mutation.