Genome evolution of novel influenza A （H1N1 ） viruses in humans

The epidemic situation of A H1N1 flu arose in North America in April 2009, which rapidly expanded to three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, with the risk ranking up to 5. Until May 13th, the flu virus of A H1N1 had spread into 33 countries and regions, with a laboratory confirmed case number of 5728, including 61 deaths. Based on IRV and EpiFluDB database, 425 parts of A H1N1 flu virus sequence were achieved, followed by sequenced comparison and evolution analysis. The results showed that the current predominant A H1N1 flu virus was a kind of triple reassortment A flu virus： （i） HA, NA, MP, NP and NS originated from swine influenza virus; PB2 and PA originated from bird influenza virus; PB1 originated from human influenza virus. （ii） The origin of swine influenza virus could be subdivided as follows： HA, NP and NS originated from classic swine influenza virus of H1N1 subtype; NA and MP originated from bird origin swine influenza virus of H1N1 subtype. （iii） A H1N1 flu virus experienced no significant mutation during the epidemic spread, accompanied with no reassortment of the virus genome. In the paper, the region of the representative strains for sequence analysis （A/California/04/2009 （H1N1） and A/Mexico/4486/2009 （H1N1）） included USA and Mexico and was relatively wide, which suggested that the analysis results were convincing.     

Orisin and future distribution of the new A （H 1N1 ） influenza virus emerging in North America in 2009

The origin of the new A （H1N1） influenza virus recently emerging in North America is a hot controversial topic of significance in disease control and risk assessment. Some experts claimed that it was an unusually mongrelized mix of human, avian and swine influenza viruses, while some others concluded that it was totally a simple re-assortment hybrid of two lineages of swine influenza viruses. Here the phylogenetic diversity of the viral PB1, PA and PB2 gene sequences using online web servers, and the results suggest that all the 8 genetic segments of the new virus were possibly from two lineages of swine influenza viruses, and one of the lineage was a mongrelized mix of human, avian and swine influenza viruses emerging in the world approximately 10 years ago. Considering the recent epidemiological trends of the new virus, we believe it will spread more widely in the world and persist long in human populations. It also could spread among swine populations. The future wide spreading of the new virus may coincide the disappearance of a subtype of previous human influenza A virus.     

The mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene from the novel influenza A （H1N1 ） virus

A mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene （HA） of the novel type A （H1N1） influenza virus was constructed. Sequence homology analysis indicated that one HA sequence type from the viruses mainly isolated from Mexico was likely the original type in this epidemic. Based on the 658A and 1408T mutations in HA, the viruses evolving into this epidemic were divided into three categories, the Mexico, the transitional and the New York type. The three groups of viruses presented distinctive clustering features in their geographic distributions.     

Investigation of the electronic structure and photoluminescence properties of Eu3＋ in Sr2Mgl_xZnxSi207 （0 〈x 〈 1）

Undoped and Eu 3+-doped Sr 2 Mg 1-x Zn x Si 2 O 7 (0≤x≤1) powder crystals were obtained by conventional solid-state reaction.X-ray diffraction,inductively coupled plasma analysis,and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results implied that a complete solid-solution formed between Sr 2 MgSi 2 O 7 and Sr 2 ZnSi 2 O 7 as well as local structural adjustment.Excitation spectra exhibited O 2-Eu 3+ charge transfer (CT) bands centered at 250 nm for Sr 2 MgSi 2 O 7:Eu 3+ and 258 nm for Sr 2 ZnSi 2 O 7:Eu 3+.Emission spectra exhibited a major band around 616 nm,which showed the environment around Eu 3+ was non-centrosymmetric in both Sr 2 MgSi 2 O 7:Eu 3+ and Sr 2 ZnSi 2 O 7:Eu 3+.In addition,first principles calculations within the local density approximation (LDA) of density functional theory (DFT) were used to calculate the electronic structure of Sr 2 MgSi 2 O 7 and Sr 2 ZnSi 2 O 7.Calculated results were correlated with experimental UV-vis reflection spectra and the observed shift of the O 2-Eu 3+ CT band.     

A theoretical study of the proton transfer process in the spin-forbidden reaction ^1HNO（^1A＇） ＋ OH^-→^ 3NO^-（^3∑^-） ＋ H2O

The spin-forbidden reaction 1HNO（^1A＋OH^-→3NO^-（^3∑^-）＋H2O has been extensively explored using vari- ous CASSCF active spaces with MP2 corrections in several basis sets. Natural bond orbital （NBO） analysis, together with the NBO energetic （deletion） analysis, indicates that the two isomers have nearly equal total energy and could compete with each other in the title reaction. More significantly, the singlet/triplet surface crossing regions have been examined and the spin-orbit coupling （SOC） and energetics have been computed. The computational results indicate that the SOC is very large at the crossing point T1/S0 trans （ca. 40.9 cm^-1）. Moreover, the T1/S0 trans has a low energy of 10.67 kcal/mol relative to that of trans-So. Therefore, the surface crossing to the triplet state seems much more efficient at the T1/S0 trans region along the minimum energy path （MEP）, However, The values of single （P1^ISC） and double （P2^ISC） passes estimated at T1/S0 trans show that the ISC occurs with a little probability.