Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41969657›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology2026

Genomic similarity to quantitatively evaluate the reassortment potential of H7N9 with other subtypes of avian influenza viruses.

Yuan Gao, Ying Liu, Zi-Wei Cao, Zhi-Hong Ma, Ying Wang, Yuan Cao, Tao Jiang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yuan Gao *Department of Basic Medical Sciences, The 960th Hospital of People's Liberation Army (PLA), Jinan, China.
Ying Liu *School of Basic Medical Science, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China.
Zi-Wei CaoDepartment of Basic Medical Sciences, The 960th Hospital of People's Liberation Army (PLA), Jinan, China.
Zhi-Hong MaDepartment of Basic Medical Sciences, The 960th Hospital of People's Liberation Army (PLA), Jinan, China.
Ying WangDepartment of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The 960th Hospital of PLA, Jinan, China.
Yuan CaoDepartment of Basic Medical Sciences, The 960th Hospital of People's Liberation Army (PLA), Jinan, China.
Tao JiangState Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: The H7N9 influenza virus poses a significant public health threat due to its potential for reassortment and cross-species transmission. This study aims to systematically evaluate the genomic similarity between H7N9 and other influenza A subtypes to identify strains with high reassortment potential and characterize their spatiotemporal and host distribution patterns. Methods: We analyzed nearly 4,000 H7N9 sequences from GISAID and NCBI, alongside representative sequences of other influenza A subtypes. Open reading frames were extracted, and a genomic similarity index was constructed using Euclidean distance, dot product, and cosine similarity measures, with weights optimized via principal component analysis. The index was applied to quantify inter-subtype similarity and predict reassortment-prone strains. Results: High sequence similarity was observed between H7N9 and cognate subtypes (e.g., H7N3, H15N9), with H7N3 exhibiting the highest similarity index (1.00). Validation using known reassortant strains, such as A/Yixing/805/2022 (H3N2), confirmed that strains with high reassortment potential showed significantly elevated similarity scores across all gene segments (p< 0.001). High-similarity outliers analysis identified 581 spillover events, temporally concentrated during 2014-2017, and spatially clustered in regions like the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong. Host analysis highlighted birds-especially chickens, ducks, and turkeys-as key reservoirs for reassortment. Discussion: The genomic similarity index effectively identifies influenza A subtypes with high reassortment potential, supported by retrospective validation and spatiotemporal congruence with documented outbreaks. The concentration of high-similarity strains in specific hosts and regions underscores the role of ecological factors in viral evolution. These findings provide a predictive framework for monitoring emergent reassortants and inform targeted surveillance strategies.

Indexed as

Genome, ViralInfluenza A virusInfluenza A Virus, H7N9 SubtypeInfluenza in BirdsReassortant VirusesAnimalsBirdsChickensGenomicsHumansInfluenza A Virus, H3N2 SubtypeInfluenza A Virus, H7N3 SubtypeInfluenza, HumanOpen Reading FramesPhylogenygenomic similarityH7N9host distributionpredictive frameworkreassortment potentialspatiotemporal distribution

Identifiers

PMID41969657
PMCPMC13066312

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LicenceCC BY
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.