Brain tropism acquisition: The spatial dynamics and evolution of a measles virus collective infectious unit that drove lethal subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

ABSTRACT: It is increasingly appreciated that pathogens can spread as infectious units constituted by multiple, genetically diverse genomes, also called collective infectious units or genome collectives. However, genetic characterization of the spatial dynamics of collective infectious units in animal hosts is demanding, and it is rarely feasible in humans. Measles virus (MeV), whose spread in lymphatic tissues and airway epithelia relies on collective infectious units, can, in rare cases, cause subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a lethal human brain disease. In different SSPE cases, MeV acquisition of brain tropism has been attributed to mutations affecting either the fusion or the matrix protein, or both, but the overarching mechanism driving brain adaptation is not understood. Here we an

SUBMITTER: Yousaf I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10735034 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature