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Membrane-Associated Enteroviruses Undergo Intercellular Transmission as Pools of Sibling Viral Genomes

Juan-Vicente Bou1, Ron Geller1, Rafael Sanjuán1

  • 1Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universitat de València, C/Catedrático Agustín Escardino 9, 46980 Paterna, València, Spain.

Cell Reports
|October 17, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Most viruses released in groups from cells contain particles from the same parent genome. This suggests viral cooperation likely involves sibling viruses, offering protection against cheaters.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Some viruses exit cells in membrane-associated pools, a process called collective dispersal.
  • Collective dispersal can influence viral cooperation and the evolution of defective interfering particles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the genetic diversity of coxsackievirus infectious units released collectively.
  • To determine if collective dispersal promotes the co-transmission of different viral variants.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of membrane-associated coxsackievirus infectious units released from infected cells.
  • Quantification of infectious particles per membranous structure.
  • Assessment of genetic variant co-transmission within these structures.

Main Results:

  • Infected cells release membranous structures containing an average of 8-21 infectious coxsackievirus particles.
  • These structures rarely (62%-93%) co-transmit different viral genetic variants from the same cell.
  • Collective dispersal did not alter viral population sequence diversity.

Conclusions:

  • Membrane-associated collective infectious units predominantly contain viral particles from a single parental genome.
  • If viral cooperation occurs in this context, it likely involves related (sibling) viral particles.
  • Cooperation among siblings is evolutionarily stable against cheater invasion.
Keywords:
collective infectious unitenterovirusextracellular vesiclessocial evolutionviral transmission

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