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Genomic evolution of vesicular stomatitis virus strains with differences in adaptability
Isabel S Novella1, John B Presloid, Tong Zhou
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Toledo Health Science Campus, Mail Stop 1210, Toledo, OH 43614, USA. isabel.novella@utoledo.edu
Journal of Virology
|February 26, 2010
Summary
Virus strains that undergo genetic bottlenecks have reduced adaptability due to smaller beneficial mutation effects. Evolved high-fitness mutants also exhibit lower robustness, showing increased fitness loss when facing new mutations.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Repeated genetic bottlenecks can diminish virus adaptability.
- Adaptability differences may stem from mutation rate, beneficial mutation effects, or both.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how genetic bottlenecks affect virus adaptability and robustness.
- To compare fitness gains and mutation accumulation in bottlenecked versus control virus populations.
Main Methods:
- Subjecting control and mutant virus populations to positive selection regimens.
- Determining progeny fitness and analyzing full-length genome sequences over time.
- Conducting mutation-accumulation experiments to assess viral robustness.
Main Results:
- Control populations showed greater fitness gains than mutant populations after selection.
- Fitness gains did not correlate with the number of accumulated mutations.
- Evolved high-fitness mutants exhibited significantly lower robustness than controls.
Conclusions:
- Genetic bottlenecks reduce virus adaptability, likely by decreasing the effect of beneficial mutations.
- Virus populations evolved under bottlenecks have reduced robustness, making them more susceptible to fitness loss from mutations.
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