On Aug. 19, 2024, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) published research that sheds light on how a key avian influenza virus enzyme can mutate to allow the virus to replicate in mammals.

The Cusack group from EMBL Grenoble deciphered the structure of the avian influenza virus’s polymerase when it interacts with a human protein essential for the virus to replicate within the cell. The structure of this replication complex, published in Nature Communications, provides important information about the mutations that avian influenza polymerase must undergo to adapt to mammals, including humans.