INFLUENZA B (B/MASSACHUSETTS/2/12) VIRAL LYSATE

Influenza B (B/Massachusetts/2/12) viral lysate is an enveloped virus with a diameter of 80-120 nm, and contains a single-stranded, segmented, negative-sense RNA within a nucleocapsid. Influenza Virus is a Biosafety Level 2 organism. Viral inactivation of this product is verified for every lot of lysate by the absence of viral growth in validated tissue culture based infectivity assays.

PRODUCT DETAILS – INFLUENZA B (B/MASSACHUSETTS/2/12) VIRAL LYSATE

• Influenza B (B/Massachusetts/2/12) virus is propagated in the MDCK cell line.
• This virus is purified using sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation, disrupted in the presence of 0.5% Triton X-100 non-ionic detergent/0.6 M KCl, and heat inactivated.
• Viral lysate is usually sold in a vial containing 1.0 mg of protein, and is shipped on dry ice. Protein concentrations generally range from 0.5 to 3.0 mg/mL.
• Suitable for the development of immunoassays, Western blotting, dot blotting and other protein-based assays.

BACKGROUND

The influenza B virus is the only species of virus in the genus Betainfluenzavirus within the family Orthomyxoviridae. Influenza B viruses have linear, negative-sense, single-stranded multipartite RNA genomes. The Influenza B virus capsid is enveloped and its virion comprises an envelope protein, matrix protein, nucleoprotein complex, a nucleocapsid, and polymerase complex. Influenza viruses are highly pleomorphic, with 500 or so surface projections of Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA). Unlike influenza A viruses, influenza B viruses are limited to infecting only humans and seals (Osterhaus et al., 2000) and can be divided into the two B/Yamagata/16/88-like and B/Victoria/2/87 lineages according to the antigenic properties of their Haemagglutinin surface proteins. The limited host range of influenza B viruses and their inability to genetically reassort is responsible for the lack of associated influenza pandemics in contrast with those caused by related influenza A viruses that mutate by both antigenic drift and shift. The variability of the type B viruses, however, is also characterised by other mechanisms such as insertion and deletion, as the influenza B lines show which have been co-circulating and stable for more than 20 years (Untergruppe, 2009). The Massachusetts/2/2012 strain of influenza B virus was first isolated in 2012 in the state of Massachusetts, USA (Influenza Research Database).

REFERENCES

• Influenza Research Database. Influenza Strain Details for B/Massachusetts/2/2012 BX-51C.
• Osterhaus, ADME. et al. (2000). Influenza B Virus in Seals. Science. 288(5468): 1051-1053.
• Untergruppe, AB. (2009). Influenza Virus. Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy. 36(1): 32-39.