Endemicity and prevalence of multipartite viruses under heterogeneous between-host transmission.

ABSTRACT: Multipartite viruses replicate through a puzzling evolutionary strategy. Their genome is segmented into two or more parts, and encapsidated in separate particles that appear to propagate independently. Completing the replication cycle, however, requires the full genome, so that a systemic infection of a host requires the concurrent presence of several particles. This represents an apparent evolutionary drawback of multipartitism, while its advantages remain unclear. A transition from monopartite to multipartite viral forms has been described in vitro under conditions of high multiplicity of infection, suggesting that cooperation between defective mutants is a plausible evolutionary pathway towards multipartitism. However, it is unknown how the putative advantages that multipartitism might

SUBMITTER: Valdano E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6438571 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature