Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Apr;23(4):188-93.
doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2007.11.010. Epub 2008 Mar 4.

Pacing a small cage: mutation and RNA viruses

Robert Belshaw  1 , Andy Gardner, Andrew Rambaut, Oliver G Pybus
Affiliations

Pacing a small cage: mutation and RNA viruses

Robert Belshaw et al. Trends Ecol Evol. 2008 Apr.

Abstract

RNA viruses have an extremely high mutation rate, and we argue that the most plausible explanation for this is a trade-off with replication speed. We suggest that research into further increasing this mutation rate artificially as an antiviral treatment requires a theoretical reevaluation, especially relating to the so-called error threshold. The main evolutionary consequence of a high mutation rate appears to have been to restrict RNA viruses to a small genome; they thus rapidly exploit a limited array of possibilities. Investigating this constraint to their evolution, and how it is occasionally overcome, promises to be fruitful. We explain the many terms used in investigating RNA viral evolution and highlight the specific experimental and comparative work that needs to be done.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure I
Figure I
Possible fitness landscapes. Profile (a) is assumed by the basic quasispecies model, whereas empirical evidence suggests the landscape is closer to profile (b).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Genome lengths for RNA (a) and DNA (b) viruses showing the much greater range of the latter, extending beyond the size of the smallest known bacterial genome (Carsonella ruddii at 160 kb). Data taken from the NCBI genome webpage (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationship between mean protein size and genome lengths, showing a significant positive relationship for proteins with replicase activity (closed circles) but not for nucleocapid proteins (open triangles). Each data point represents the mean value for a family of RNA viruses (taken from our web application/database at http://virus.zoo.ox.ac.uk/virus/index.html).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Drake J.W. Rates of spontaneous mutation. Genetics. 1998;148:1667–1686. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Steinhauer D.A. Lack of evidence for proofreading mechanisms associated with an RNA virus polymerase. Gene. 1992;122:281–288. - PubMed
    1. Tippin B. Error-prone replication for better or worse. Trends Microbiol. 2004;12:288–295. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (2004) The World Health Report 2004 – Changing History, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
    1. Lucas M. Viral escape mechanisms – escapology taught by viruses. Int. J. Exp. Pathol. 2001;82:269–286. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

-