Influenza (Flu) Sequencing
Influenza, commonly called "flu", is an endemic, seasonal virus that varies in severity from year to year, depending on the circulating subtype and population-level immunity. Vaccination against the flu was first made widely available in 1946. Each year's vaccine is raised against the dominant subtypes from the previous year's circulating subtypes; due to the flu's high rate of mutation/adaptation, vaccination is recommended annually. Sequencing for subtype identification can help to track infection dynamics over the course of a season, while sequencing for changes in primer sites can indicate whether changes have occurred that will prevent accurate identification.
To support ongoing efforts to monitor the progression and evolution of Influenza, NEB scientists developed a set primers based on an integrated-indexing, multi-segment PCR scheme for use in RT-PCR and library prep on Oxford Nanopore Technologies platforms. Sequencing of Influenza with NEBNext iiMS Flu A Primer Pairs is demonstrated in the open-source protocol currently available on protocols.io, based on work in Peter Thielen’s lab at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
For questions about accessing the NEBNext iiMS Flu A Primer Pairs, please submit an inquiry to info@neb.com.
For more information on how NEBNext supports Infectious Disease research and development, visit Infectious Diseases & ARTIC Sequencing.
