Internal Disequilibria and Phenotypic Diversification during Replication of Hepatitis C Virus in a Noncoevolving Cellular Environment.

ABSTRACT: Viral quasispecies evolution upon long-term virus replication in a noncoevolving cellular environment raises relevant general issues, such as the attainment of population equilibrium, compliance with the molecular-clock hypothesis, or stability of the phenotypic profile. Here, we evaluate the adaptation, mutant spectrum dynamics, and phenotypic diversification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the course of 200 passages in human hepatoma cells in an experimental design that precluded coevolution of the cells with the virus. Adaptation to the cells was evidenced by increase in progeny production. The rate of accumulation of mutations in the genomic consensus sequence deviated slightly from linearity, and mutant spectrum analyses revealed a complex dynamic of mutational waves, which was sustaine

SUBMITTER: Moreno E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5411618 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature