Fitness peaks of dengue virus populations

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 1; p. e0189554
• Main Authors: Liu, Wen Jun, Aaskov, John G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02-01-2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 5-Fluorouracil; Artificial chromosomes; Biology and Life Sciences; Cell culture; Cloning; Dengue; Dengue fever; Dengue virus; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Enzymes; Extinction; Extinction (Biology); Fitness; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genetic polymorphisms; Genomes; Infections; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mosquitoes; Mutation; Nucleotide analogs; Pathogens; Plasmids; Population; Population genetics; Populations; Reproductive fitness; Research and Analysis Methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA viruses; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Species extinction; Vector-borne diseases; Viral diseases; Virology; Viruses; West Nile virus; Australia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189554

The role of intra-host genetic diversity in dengue viral populations remains a topic of debate, particularly the impact on transmission of changes in this diversity. Several approaches have been taken to increasing and decreasing the genetic diversity of populations of RNA viruses and have drawn what appear to be contradictory conclusions. A 2-6 fold increase in genetic diversity of a wild type population of dengue virus serotype 1(DENV1) and of an infectious clone population derived from the wild type population, produced by treatment with nucleotide analogue 5 fluorouracil (5FU), drove the populations to extinction. Removal of 5FU immediately prior to extinction, resulted in a return to pre-treatment levels of fitness and genetic diversity, albeit with novel single nucleotide polymorphisms. These observations support the concept that DENV populations exist on fitness peaks determined by their transmission requirements and either an increase or a decrease in genetic diversity may result in a loss of fitness.