Baculovirus Molecular Evolution via Gene Turnover and Recurrent Positive Selection of Key Genes.

ABSTRACT: Hosts and viruses are locked in an evolutionary arms race. Hosts are constantly evolving to suppress virulence and replication, while viruses, which are reliant on host machinery for survival and reproduction, develop counterstrategies to escape this immune defense. Viruses must also adapt to novel conditions while establishing themselves in a host species. Both processes provide strong selection for viral adaptation. Understanding adaptive evolution in insect viruses can help us to better understand adaptive evolution in general and is important due to the use of these viruses as biocontrol agents and for protecting ecologically or economically important species from outbreaks. Here we examine the molecular evolution of baculoviruses and nudiviruses, a group of insect-infecting viruses wi

SUBMITTER: Hill T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5660496 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature