Viral mutation rates.

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics

Background:

• Accurate virus mutation rate estimation is vital for understanding viral evolution and developing control strategies.
• Existing estimation methods are diverse and complex, hindering comparative analyses.
• A standardized approach is needed to compare mutation rates across different viruses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically review existing studies on virus mutation rates.
• To establish criteria for comparative analyses of mutation rates.
• To provide standardized mutation rate estimates for 23 viruses.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a critical review of over 40 original studies on virus mutation rates.
• Established criteria for facilitating comparative analyses.
• Applied a novel statistical method to correct for selection bias.
• Estimated mutation rates as substitutions per nucleotide per cell infection (s/n/c).

Main Results:

• Mutation rates varied from 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻⁶ s/n/c for DNA viruses and 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁴ s/n/c for RNA viruses.
• A negative correlation between mutation rate and genome size was observed for RNA viruses, requiring further investigation.
• Nucleotide substitutions were, on average, four times more common than insertions/deletions (indels).
• Retrovirus mutation rates were not lower than other RNA viruses.

Conclusions:

• Standardized mutation rate estimates provide a valuable resource for virology research.
• The findings offer insights into the evolutionary dynamics of viruses.
• A regularly updated dataset of virus mutation rates will be publicly available.