Observing micro-evolutionary processes of viral populations at multiple scales.

ABSTRACT: Advances in sequencing technology coupled with new integrative approaches to data analysis provide a potentially transformative opportunity to use pathogen genome data to advance our understanding of transmission. However, to maximize the insights such genetic data can provide, we need to understand more about how the microevolution of pathogens is observed at different scales of biological organization. Here, we examine the evolutionary processes in foot-and-mouth disease virus observed at different scales, ranging from the tissue, animal, herd and region. At each scale, we observe analogous processes of population expansion, mutation and selection resulting in the accumulation of mutations over increasing time scales. While the current data are limited, rates of nucleotide substitution a

SUBMITTER: Orton RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3678327 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature