Abstract

Genetic bottlenecks are important events in the genetic diversification of organisms and colonization of new ecological niches. Repeated bottlenecking of RNA viruses often leads to fitness losses due to the operation of Muller's ratchet. Herein we use vesicular stomatitis virus to determine the transmission population size which leads to fitness decreases of virus populations. Remarkably, the effective size of a genetic bottleneck associated with fitness loss is greater when the fitness of the parental population increases. For example, for starting virus populations with low fitness, population transfers of five-clone-to-five-clone passages resulted in a fitness increase. However, when a parental population with high fitness was transferred, 30-clone-to-30-clone passages were required simply to maintain fitness values.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.