“…Despite the absence of a standardized approach for sera production, these analyses have shown some significant clues about the antigenic makeup of the H9 HA. Combined with studies using mouse mAbs, a cluster of amino acids has been shown to affect the antigenic profile of the HA, namely those at positions 72, 74, 121, 131, 135, 150, 180, 183, 195, 198, 216, 217, 249, 264, 276, 288, and 306 (H9 numbering throughout the manuscript) ( 16 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 29 ). Further analyses on the contributions of each of these and alternative positions to antigenicity/receptor binding avidity are discussed later in the context of this report’s findings.…”