Linked Life Data

15777632

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/15777632

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2005-5-13
pubmed:abstractText
Population bottlenecks are stochastic events that strongly condition the structure and evolution of natural populations. Their effects are readily observable in highly heterogeneous populations, such as RNA viruses, since bottlenecks cause a fast accumulation of mutations. Considering that most mutations are deleterious, it was predicted that the frequent application of bottlenecks would yield a population unable to replicate. However, in vitro as well as in vivo systems evolving through bottlenecks present a remarkable resistance to extinction. This observation reveals the robustness of RNA viruses and points to the existence of internal mechanisms which must confer a high degree of adaptability to fast mutating populations. In this contribution, we review experimental observations regarding the survival of RNA viruses, both in laboratory experiments and in natural populations. By means of a simple theoretical model of evolution which incorporates strong reductions of the population size, we explore the relationship between the number of replication rounds that a single founder particle undergoes before the next bottleneck is applied, and the mutation rate in a particular environment. Our numerical results reveal that the mutation rate has evolved in a concerted way with the degree of optimization achieved by the population originated from the founder particle. We hypothesize that this mechanism generates a mutation-selection equilibrium in natural populations that maximizes adaptability while maintaining their structure.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0378-1119
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
14
pubmed:volume
347
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
273-82
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2005
pubmed:articleTitle
High mutation rates, bottlenecks, and robustness of RNA viral quasispecies.
pubmed:affiliation
Centro de Astrobiología, INTA-CSIC, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Ctra de Ajalvir km 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't