The genomic rate of molecular adaptation of the human influenza A virus.

ABSTRACT: Quantifying adaptive evolution at the genomic scale is an essential yet challenging aspect of evolutionary biology. Here, we develop a method that extends and generalizes previous approaches to estimate the rate of genomic adaptation in rapidly evolving populations and apply it to a large data set of complete human influenza A virus genome sequences. In accord with previous studies, we observe particularly high rates of adaptive evolution in domain 1 of the viral hemagglutinin (HA1). However, our novel approach also reveals previously unseen adaptation in other viral genes. Notably, we find that the rate of adaptation (per codon per year) is higher in surface residues of the viral neuraminidase than in HA1, indicating strong antibody-mediated selection on the former. We also observed high

SUBMITTER: Bhatt S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3163432 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature