Environmental Variability and Evolution of Virus Specialists and Generalists

环境变化以及病毒专家和通才的进化

• 批准号: 0452163
• 负责人: Paul Turner
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-01 至 2010-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0452163&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Environmental; Variability; Evolution; Virus; Specialists

Whereas some viruses can easily shift to infect new host populations, other viruses remain confined to their original host. This research examines the environmental factors which cause viruses to be specialists that infect few hosts or generalists that attack a variety of hosts. This goal is accomplished using experimental evolution of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus in laboratory culture. The first major objective is to see if different patterns of host availability affect whether specialist or generalist viruses will evolve, and can be used to predict which viruses are more likely to shift to new hosts in the future. Second is to identify the changes to the virus genome that are associated with evolved host shifts. Third is to determine whether populations of specialist and generalist viruses differ in the rate at which they evolve. Methods include techniques from a variety of disciplines, including molecular biology, population genetics, genomics and evolutionary theory.The project results can be applied to several systems because viruses are important disease agents in wild and domesticated populations of animals and plants. The project virus resembles many vector-borne human viruses (such as West Nile Fever Virus); thus, the project should help elucidate environmental factors promoting viral host shifts into human populations.

尽管某些病毒可以轻松转移以感染新的宿主群体，但其他病毒仍然局限于其原始宿主。这项研究探讨了导致病毒成为感染少数宿主的专家或攻击多种宿主的通才的环境因素。这一目标是通过实验室培养中水泡性口炎病毒的实验进化来实现的。第一个主要目标是了解不同的宿主可用性模式是否会影响专科病毒或通才病毒的进化，并可用于预测哪些病毒将来更有可能转移到新宿主。其次是确定与进化的宿主转变相关的病毒基因组的变化。第三是确定专业病毒和通用病毒种群的进化速度是否不同。方法包括来自分子生物学、群体遗传学、基因组学和进化论等多个学科的技术。该项目的结果可以应用于多个系统，因为病毒是野生和驯化动植物群体中的重要疾病媒介。该项目病毒类似于许多媒介传播的人类病毒（例如西尼罗热病毒）；因此，该项目应有助于阐明促进病毒宿主转移到人群中的环境因素。