Identification of Amino Acid Residues Involved in the Fidelity of Influenza Virus Polymerase

The evolution and host adaptation of influenza viruses are facilitated by the highly error-prone replication process catalyzed by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. However, amino acid residues involved in the fidelity of influenza virus RNA polymerase are still unclear. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of the error-prone replication by the influenza virus RNA polymerase, we try to identify amino acid residues that alter the fidelity of viral polymerase by isolation of nucleotide analog escape mutants.