A single-amino acid difference between rodent and human Andes virus affects viral glycoprotein trafficking.

A single T641I amino-acid difference in the human Andes virus glycoprotein precursor is linked to altered Golgi trafficking and delayed virion release compared with a rodent isolate.

• Why it matters: Person-to-person ANDV outbreaks are rare, and differences between human and rodent isolates may shape how efficiently virus particles exit cells and spread.
• What they did: The authors compared a human outbreak isolate and a rodent isolate from the same region, finding 25 nonsynonymous substitutions including T641I near the cleavage site, then tested virion release and glycoprotein trafficking in human cell expression systems.
• The result: In human cells, the I641T substitution decreased Golgi retention and increased faster release of virion-like particles versus wild-type glycoprotein, implying a human adaptive mutation affecting egress.

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