Figure 2.

The Influenza A virus (IAV) is an example of an opportunistic pathogen exploiting host glycans to initiate infection. (a) IAV employs sialic acid-specific surface proteins, the receptor-binding hemagglutinin (HA) and the receptor-destroying neuraminidase (NA) to, respectively, initiate and complete infection. (b) Glycan arrays are routinely used to assess changes in host-specificity of IAV strains. (c) Array platforms are emerging that utilize glycomaterials to determine how sialoglycan presentation on host cells influences IAV binding and specificity. (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)