Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Viral Plasticity

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Bacteriophage replication and performance are intrinsically linked to host physiology.
• Existing intracellular theories are too complex for long-term host-phage interaction models.
• This gap limits understanding of phage roles in diverse ecosystems like the gut microbiome and oceans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the short- and long-term impacts of host physiology on bacteriophage performance.
• To develop simplified expressions for viral phenotypic plasticity based on host growth rate.
• To integrate these expressions into host-phage models to explore ecological and evolutionary dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Compiled empirical data on lytic-phage traits and host growth rates.
• Developed mathematical expressions to represent viral phenotypic plasticity.
• Incorporated these expressions into a standard host-phage interaction model.

Main Results:

• Viral phenotypic plasticity significantly influences emergent evolutionary strategies and population dynamics.
• Plasticity in offspring number is a key driver of phage ecological and evolutionary dynamics.
• Environmental factors like nutrient pulses and host starvation were analyzed within this framework.

Conclusions:

• Standard host-phage models neglecting viral plasticity have limited predictive power in realistic scenarios.
• Viral plasticity is essential for a comprehensive understanding of host-phage interactions.
• Further laboratory and field studies are needed to characterize viral plastic responses across different systems.