Evolutionary dynamics of viral escape under antibodies stress: A biophysical model.

ABSTRACT: Viruses constantly face the selection pressure of antibodies, either from innate immune response of the host or from administered antibodies for treatment. We explore the interplay between the biophysical properties of viral proteins and the population and demographic variables in the viral escape. The demographic and population genetics aspect of the viral escape have been explored before; however one important assumption was the a priori distribution of fitness effects (DFE). Here, we relax this assumption by instead considering a realistic biophysics-based genotype-phenotype relationship for RNA viruses escaping antibodies stress. In this model the DFE is itself an evolvable property that depends on the genetic background (epistasis) and the distribution of biophysical effects of mutati

SUBMITTER: Cheron N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4918420 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature