Arbovirus evolution in vivo is constrained by host alternation

@article{citeulike:2799647, abstract = {The intrinsic plasticity of RNA viruses can facilitate host range changes that lead to epidemics. However, evolutionary processes promoting cross-species transfers are poorly defined, especially for arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). In theory, cross species transfers by arboviruses may be constrained by their alternating infection of disparate hosts, where optimal replication in one host involves a fitness tradeoff for the other. Accordingly, freeing arboviruses from alternate replication via specialization in a single host should accelerate adaptation. This hypothesis has been tested by using cell culture model systems with inconclusive results. Therefore, we tested it using an in vivo system with Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), an emerging alphavirus of the Americas. VEEV serially passaged in mosquitoes exhibited increased mosquito infectivity and vertebrate-specialized strains produced higher viremias. Conversely, alternately passaged VEEV experienced no detectable fitness gains in either host. These results suggest that arbovirus adaptation and evolution is limited by obligate host alternation and predict that arboviral emergence via host range changes may be less frequent than that of single host animal RNA viruses. 10.1073/pnas.0712130105}, author = {Coffey, Lark L. and Vasilakis, Nikos and Brault, Aaron C. and Powers, Ann M. and Tripet, Frederic and Weaver, Scott C. }, citeulike-article-id = {2799647}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.0712130105}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, keywords = {evolution, flavivirus}, month = {May}, number = {19}, pages = {6970--6975}, posted-at = {2008-05-14 18:17:07}, priority = {2}, title = {Arbovirus evolution in vivo is constrained by host alternation}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0712130105}, volume = {105}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2799647 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2799647 TI - Arbovirus evolution in vivo is constrained by host alternation JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences VL - 105 IS - 19 SP - 6970 EP - 6975 N2 - The intrinsic plasticity of RNA viruses can facilitate host range changes that lead to epidemics. However, evolutionary processes promoting cross-species transfers are poorly defined, especially for arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). In theory, cross species transfers by arboviruses may be constrained by their alternating infection of disparate hosts, where optimal replication in one host involves a fitness tradeoff for the other. Accordingly, freeing arboviruses from alternate replication via specialization in a single host should accelerate adaptation. This hypothesis has been tested by using cell culture model systems with inconclusive results. Therefore, we tested it using an in vivo system with Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), an emerging alphavirus of the Americas. VEEV serially passaged in mosquitoes exhibited increased mosquito infectivity and vertebrate-specialized strains produced higher viremias. Conversely, alternately passaged VEEV experienced no detectable fitness gains in either host. These results suggest that arbovirus adaptation and evolution is limited by obligate host alternation and predict that arboviral emergence via host range changes may be less frequent than that of single host animal RNA viruses. 10.1073/pnas.0712130105 KW - evolution KW - flavivirus AU - Coffey, Lark AU - Vasilakis, Nikos AU - Brault, Aaron AU - Powers, Ann AU - Tripet, Frederic AU - Weaver, Scott PY - 2008/05/13/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0712130105 ER -