Researchers are reporting the most complete analysis yet of the genetics of bird flu viruses, including the dreaded H5N1 strain whose spread to humans is feared as the potential cause of a pandemic."By collecting blueprints of several hundred flu viruses, we have data that might tell us more about what genetic features are required to move a virus out of birds into humans, and which genes are important in things like virulence,” said Clayton W. Naeve, director of the Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.Naeve is the lead author of a report on the viral genetics work, published in the Jan. 28 issue of the journal Science.
