Viral adaptation to alternating hosts and associated allelic variants

Abstract

The long-term reproductive success of a lineage depends on its ability to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions and for a virus a substantial part of its environment is the host that it infects. Viruses may overcome limitations of a given host environment by switching to other available hosts. Experiments addressing host switching may pave the way for an improved understanding of the emergence of new viral diseases. Here, a model bacteriophage, φX174, its canonical laboratory bacterial host strain, Escherichia coli, and a novel host, Salmonella Typhimurium were employed. Bacteriophage φX174 adaptation was studied at population level in a bioreactor. We analyzed phenotypes and genotypes arising during continuous evolution of φX174 on alternating hosts for four consecutive periods of 10 days each. The fitness and adsorption of each viral population were measured using qPCR in liquid culture. Deep sequencing analysis of isolates was carried out to determine the genetic basis of pleiotropic costs and to characterize allelic variations occurring during growth. Some alleles specific to one host were lost or reduced in frequency in the alternative host while other alleles (not present in the ancestor) were shared between hosts. The fitness effects of specific alleles were examined in isolation through targeted mutagenesis. This work contributes to a better understanding of some of the general constraints, costs and benefits influencing the evolution of parasite populations as they adapt to the complexities of a novel host environment- a key consideration during the emergence of infectious diseases.