Collective interactions augment influenza A virus replication in a host-dependent manner

Infection with a single influenza A virus (IAV) is only rarely sufficient to initiate productive infection. Here, we exploit both single-cell approaches and whole-animal systems to show that the extent of IAV reliance on multiple infection varies with virus strain and host species. Influenza A/guinea fowl/HK/WF10/99 (H9N2) [GFHK99] virus exhibits strong dependence on collective interactions in mammalian systems. This reliance focuses viral progeny production within coinfected cells and therefore results in frequent genetic exchange through reassortment. In contrast, GFHK99 virus has greatly reduced dependence on multiple infection in avian systems, indicating a role for host factors in viral collective interactions. Genetic mapping implicated the viral polymerase as a major driver of multiple infection dependence. Mechanistically, quantification of incomplete viral genomes showed that their complementation only partly accounts for the observed reliance on coinfection. Indeed, even when all polymerase components are detected in single-cell mRNA sequencing, robust polymerase activity of GFHK99 virus in mammalian cells is reliant on multiple infection. In sum, IAV collective interactions not only augment reassortment, but can also overcome species-specific barriers to infection. These findings underscore the importance of virus-virus interactions in IAV infection, evolution and emergence.