Evolução Viral

Evolution
Lecture 21
Biology 4310
Virology
Spring 2020
Around here, it takes all the running you can

do just to stay in the same place.
LEWIS CARROLL
Alice in Wonderland
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darwin_Tree_1837.png
Phylogenetics
• Phylogenetic trees measure the genetic distance
between organisms, and identify the nearest relatives
• To construct a phylogenetic tree, compare differences in

nucleotide sequences of many isolates of putatively
related organisms
• Each division in the tree is a ‘node’, the common

ancestor of the organisms or the isolates identified to its https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_05
right
• After such branching, the organisms and their sequences

evolve independently. The ‘root’ (at the extreme left) is
the assumed common ancestor of all organisms in the
tree
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University ©Principles of Virology, ASM Press
Adaptation
(removal of deleterious alleles)
(positive selection)
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University Annu. Rev. Genet. 2012. 46:677–700
matrix
3 4
CCC DNA
Nucleus 5
5’ c (+) Pregenome
5’ c
Shorter transcripts
5’ c
13
Darwin would have loved viruses!
6
5’ c 5’ c
8
9 7
Capsid P protein
Pre-S S
12 11 10 ER Viral surface proteins
14
MVB
Small 15
Incomplete
particles
16 Exosomes
The best exemplars of evolution by natural selection, and for RNA viruses, evolution is so rapid it
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University can be followed in real time Principles of Virology, ASM Press
Studios
s of Virology, 4e
1-12
Viral evolution: The constant change of a viral population in
the face of selection pressures
• Where did viruses come from?

• Where are viruses going?
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

Modern virology has provided a window on the mechanisms of
evolution
• As host populations grow and adapt, virus populations are selected

that can infect them
- New viral populations emerge every day
• It also works the other way

- Viral populations can be significant selective forces in the evolution of host
populations
• If a host population cannot adapt to a lethal virus infection, the

population may be exterminated
The public is constantly confronted with the reality of viral
evolution (even if they don’t believe in evolution)
• New viral diseases: AIDS, West Nile virus in the US, HCV, Ebolavirus,
Zika virus, COVID-19
• Regular bouts every year with influenza and common cold viruses
• Drug resistant HIV
Simple fact: viruses evolve faster
than many can comprehend
2
c 5’ 3 4
CCC DNA
4 5
Nucleus
NP 5’ c (+) Pregenome
Four main drivers

9 of virus evolution
5’ c
Shorter transcripts
5’ c
6
13
5’
5’ c 5’ c
8
9 7
Capsid P protein
Pre-S S
ER • Large numbers of progeny

14
MVB
• Large numbers of mutants
Small 15
8
• Quasi-species effects
Incomplete
particles
Golgi
• Selection
16 Exosomes
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University Principles of Virology, ASM Press
y, 4e
Virus-infected cells produce large numbers of progeny
Virus in plasma HBV HIV
Half-life 24 h 6h
Daily turnover 50% 90%
Total production in
>1011 >109
blood
The interface of host defense and virus replication is fertile ground for selection and evolution
Replicating viruses produce large numbers of mutant genomes
• Evolution is possible only when mutations occur in a population
• Mutations are produced during copying of any nucleic acid molecule
Viral genomes are always mutating!

RNA viruses
• Lack of proofreading activity in RNA dependent RNA polymerase:

high error frequencies (1 misincorporation / 103 - 104 nt
polymerized)
• Average error frequency: 1 in 104 or 105 nucleotides polymerized

• In a 10 kb RNA virus genome, a mutation frequency of 1 in 104
results
9 in about 1 mutation per genome
8
Extracellular
matrix
3 4
CCC DNA
Nucleus 5
5’ c (+) Pregenome
5’ c
Shorter transcripts
DNA viruses
5’ c
6
13
5’ c 5’ c
8
9 7
Capsid P protein
Pre-S S
• Genome replication not as error prone as RNA viruses

14
MVB
• Proofreading
Small 15
Incomplete
particles
• Most DNA viruses generate less diversity, evolve slower than RNA
viruses 16 Exosomes
ScEYEnce Studios
Principles of Virology, 4e
Fig. APP01-12
9-29-14
*
*substitutions/nucleotide/generation
The quasispecies concept
• Analysis of an RNA bacteriophage population (Qβ):

“A Qβ phage population is in a dynamic equilibrium with viral mutants arising at a high rate on the one hand, and being strongly
selected against on the other. The genome of Qβ cannot be described as a defined unique structure, but rather as a weighted
average of a large number of different individual sequences.” E. Domingo, D. Sabo, T. Taniguchi, C. Weissmann. 1978. Nucleotide
sequence heterogenity of an RNA phage population. Cell 13:735-744.
• This discovery was far ahead of its time (40 years ago this month!), not
appreciated by most virologists
• Virus populations exist as dynamic distributions of nonidentical but related

replicons, called quasispecies

Viral quasispecies
this
not this
Quasispecies effects
• Viral infections are initiated a population of

particles, not a single virus particle
• The large number of progeny produced are

products of selective forces inside the host
• The survivors that can re-infect a new host

reflect the selective forces outside the host
The myth of consensus genome sequences
• For a given RNA virus population, the genome sequences cluster

around a consensus or average sequence, but virtually every genome
can be different from every other
• A genome with the consensus sequence may not exist in the

population

Quasispecies
Variation further generated by recombination and reassortment
Selection
• Survival of the fittest: A rare genome with a

particular mutation may survive a selection event,
and this mutation will be found in all progeny
genomes
• Survival of the survivors: However, the linked, but

unselected mutations, get a free ride
• Consequently, the product of selection after

replication is a new, diverse population that shares
only the selected mutations
Diversity is selected
• Mutations in viral polymerases that reduce the frequency of incorporation errors
- Do not have a selective advantage when wild type and anti-mutators are propagated
together
- Lower rates are neither advantageous nor selected in nature
- Mutants are often less pathogenic
• High mutation rates are selected during virus evolution: mutation is good for viral
populations
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University http://www.virology.ws/2009/05/15/increased-fidelity-reduces-viral-fitness/

Error threshold
• Mutation is a powerful advantage, but selection and survival balances

genetic fidelity and mutation rate
• This limit is called the error threshold
- Exceed it: loss of infectivity
- Below it: cannot produce enough mutations to survive selection
• RNA viruses: evolve close to their error threshold
• DNA viruses: evolve far below their error threshold

Error threshold
• Expose a cell culture infected with a DNA virus to a

base analog such as 5-azacytidine
• 5-azacytidine is incorporated as a C, but templates

as a T (G to A transitions)
• Mutation rate among viral progeny increases

several orders of magnitude
• When a similar experiment is done with an RNA

virus, the error frequency per genome increases
only two- to threefold at best - cannot make any
more mutations
Error threshold
Antiviral ribavirin and poliovirus
Importance of Quasispecies: Genetic bottlenecks
• Extreme selective pressures on small populations that result in loss of

diversity, accumulation of non-selected mutations, or both
• A single RNA virus plaque is picked and expanded
• Next, a single plaque is picked from the expanded stock
• The process is repeated over and over
Genetic bottlenecks
• After about 20-30 cycles of single-plaque amplification, many virus

populations are barely able to grow
• They are markedly less fit than the original population
• The environment is constant, and the only apparent selection is that

imposed by the ability of the population of viruses from a single plaque
to replicate
• Why does fitness plummet?

Genetic bottlenecks
• The bottleneck arises by restricting further viral replication to the

progeny found in a single plaque
- A few thousand progeny viruses derived from a single founder virus

Genetic bottlenecks
• Another way to look at this problem: Muller’s ratchet: Small, asexual

populations accumulate deleterious mutations
• Replicating RNA viruses are close to error threshold

• By restricting population growth to serial single founders (the
bottleneck) under otherwise nonselective conditions, so many
mutations accumulate (exceed the threshold) that fitness
decreases

The ratchet metaphor: each of the new mutations works like a ratchet,
allowing the gear to move forward, but not backward
Each round of error-prone replication works like a ratchet, “clicking”
relentlessly as mutations accumulate at every replication cycle
Fitness decline compared to initial virus clone after passage
through a bottleneck
# of bottleneck % Decrease in
Virus
passages fitness
Bacteriophage ɸ6 40 22
Vesicular stomatitis virus 20 18
Foot-and-mouth disease virus 30 60
HIV 15 94
Bacteriophage MS2 20 17
Bottlenecks in the real world?
• Infection by a limited virus population and subsequent amplification are

often found in nature
- Small droplets of suspended virus during aerosol transmission
- Activation of a latent virus from a limited population of cells
- Small volume of inoculum introduced in infection by insect bites
• How do infections that spread by these routes escape Muller’s ratchet?

Avoiding the ‘ratchet’
• Subject a more diverse viral population to serial passage

- Don’t pick a single plaque, pool several plaques
• More diversity in the replicating population facilitates construction of

a mutation-free genome by recombination or reassortment, removing
or compensating for mutations that affect growth adversely
By exchange of genetic information
Mutant virus 1
Mutant virus 2
Healthy viral
recombinant
Reassortment
Avoiding the ‘ratchet’
• The message is simple: Diversity of a viral

population is important for the survival of
individual members
- Remove diversity, and the population suffers
An example of selection: genetic shift & drift
• Selection of viral mutants resistant to elimination by antibodies or

cytotoxic T cells inevitable when sufficient virus replication occurs in
an immunocompetent individual
• Drift - diversity arising from copying errors and immune selection -

may occur each time a genome replicates
• Shift - diversity arising after recombination or reassortment

Influenza viruses
• Influenza A viruses are classified by antigenic composition, by

serologic testing of HA and NA
• Combinations of H and N are called HxNy

• x = 1-18; y = 1-11
• H1-17 can infect birds; H1, H2, H3 can infect and transmit between
humans
Antigenic drift: Influenza virus
Host-virus arms race
Red Queen conflicts
Around here, it takes all the running you can

do just to stay in the same place.
LEWIS CARROLL
Alice in Wonderland
Evolution-guided functional analysis of host-virus arms races
Concept: synonymous and non synonymous changes

dN/dS
Virus-host conflicts have driven evolution of the immune
system
Host defense protein
Viral counter-
Positively selected amino acids
defense proteins
TRF1 evolution in rodents shaped by two virus-host races
Despite this genome diversity…
• There are only 3 serotypes of poliovirus (>150 rhinoviruses)
• One measles serotype, continuous influenza variation
• Poliovirus and measles viruses can change, but they do not in humans
Selection: Is virulence a positive or negative trait?
• Positive trait: increased virulence is a consequence of high viral loads,

facilitating transmission
• Negative trait: increased virulence reduces transmissibility because hosts

die faster, reducing exposure to uninfected hosts
• Probably both: there are many virulent and avirulent viruses

An experiment in the evolution of virulence
• In 1859, the European rabbit was introduced to Australia for hunting purposes
• Lacking natural predators, it reproduced to plague proportions in a short time

Evolution of virulence
• Myxoma virus released in Australia in the 1950s in an attempt to rid the

continent of the rabbits
• Natural host of myxoma virus is the cottontail rabbit
• Virus spread by mosquitoes; infected rabbits develop superficial warts on

their ears
• European rabbits are a different species, infection is 90-99% fatal

• In the first year, the released virus was efficient in killing rabbits with
a 99.8% mortality rate
• After the second year the mortality dropped to 30%

• Rate of killing was lower than the reproductive rate of the rabbits,
and hope for 100% eradication was dashed

• Both rabbits and viruses produce large numbers of offspring
• Virus evolved to kill fewer rabbits and to extend the life of lethally infected
rabbits so that the virus could overwinter and spread in spring mosquitoes
• The rabbits evolved to become more resistant or tolerant of the virus
• As predicted for an evolving host coming to an equilibrium with the pathogen
nature

Evolution of viral virulence in humans?
• Experience with Lassa virus, Ebolavirus, HIV: animal-human virus

transfers tend to be virulent
• But viruses from older jumps (measles, poliovirus) are less virulent
• What happened in the meantime?

Nevertheless, we are obsessed with increased viral virulence
• Ebolavirus is mutating, will go airborne (Osterholm, NY Times, 11 Sept 2014)
• Ebolavirus, Lisa Henley: “Is it getting better at replicating as it goes from person to
person?” (Ebola Wars, Richard Preston, New Yorker)
• Peter Hotez, NYT Op-Ed 8 April 2016: “There are many theories for Zika’s rapid rise, but
the most plausible is that the virus mutated from an African to a pandemic strain a
decade or more ago and then spread east across the Pacific from Micronesia and
French Polynesia, until it struck Brazil.”
• It’s easy to blame mutation - but usually there are other explanations (e.g. poliovirus,
see ‘Emerging Viruses’)

“Evidence has shown that the disease has been
transmitted through the respiratory tract and there is
the possibility of viral mutation” —National Health
Commission Vice Minister Li Bin

We have no data on the effect of evolution on
viral virulence in humans
Animal to animal
Transmission to a new host is the major

selective force for viral evolution
The origin of viruses
Oldest viral stocks:

1918 influenza virus
Pithovirus sibericum
(30,000 y)

Origins of DNA viruses
Molecular clocks: By relating timescale of

herpesviral genome evolution with that of hosts,
believe that three major groups of herpesviruses
(alpha, beta, gamma) arose ~180-220 million years
ago
Endogenous viruses - retrovirus and otherwise
Phylogenomics

How old are viruses?
Orthoceras, a nautiloid cephalopod, 488 Ma

Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)
• Estimates of molecular evolution suggest

marine origin of some retroviruses >450 Ma,
Ordovician period
• Likely originated billions of years ago -
before cells?
Origin of viruses
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University Nature Reviews Microbiology 17, 449–458 (2019)
Scenario of RNA virus evolution
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University https://doi.org/ 10.1128/mBio.02329-18.
Multiple origins of ssDNA viruses
JRC, jelly-roll capsid protein

fCP, filamentous capsid protein
pCP, polymorphic capsid protein
DdDp, DNA dependent DNA polymerase
RCRE, rolling circle replication endonuclease
S3H, superfamily 3 helices
Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University https://doi.org/ 10.1128/mBio.02329-18.
Human viruses
• All known types of viruses likely evolved

long before humans appeared on Earth
• All human viruses have therefore

evolved from animal viruses

Evolution of new viruses
• Assumption: new viruses can only arise from viruses that are now in
existence, not de novo
• What is the number of all possible mutations of a viral genome?

• Sequence comparisons of several RNA virus genomes have
demonstrated that well over half of all nucleotides can
accommodate mutations

Evolution of new viruses
• For a 10 kb viral genome, 45000 sequences are possible

• Deletions, recombination, and reassortment increase the numbers
• ~4135 atoms in the visible universe

The fundamental properties of viruses constrain and drive
evolution
• Despite many rounds of replication, mutation, selection, we can recognize a

herpesvirus or influenza virus genome by sequence analysis
• Viral populations often maintain master or consensus sequences, despite

opportunities for extreme variation
• How is stability maintained?

Constraining viral evolution
• Extreme alterations in viral consensus genome do not survive selection
• The viral genome is one constraint
- DNA cannot become RNA, or vice versa
- Replication - interaction with host proteins, replication signals
- mRNA synthesis signals, poly(A) addition, processing
- RNA structure, codon usage,
• Physical nature of capsid
- Icosahedral capsids: defined internal space, fixes genome size
• Selection during host infection
- A mutant too efficient in bypassing host defenses will kill host, have the same fate as one that
does not sufficiently replicate
Food for thought
5 days
8 million years
Imagine what a virus can do

with 8 million years
Next time: Emerging viruses

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Evolution

Around here, it takes all the running you can

• To construct a phylogenetic tree, compare differences in

• Each division in the tree is a ‘node’, the common

• After such branching, the organisms and their sequences

(removal of deleterious alleles)

• Where did viruses come from?

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

• As host populations grow and adapt, virus populations are selected

• It also works the other way

• If a host population cannot adapt to a lethal virus infection, the

Four main drivers

ER • Large numbers of progeny

Virus in plasma HBV HIV

Daily turnover 50% 90%

• Evolution is possible only when mutations occur in a population

• Mutations are produced during copying of any nucleic acid molecule

Viral genomes are always mutating!

• Lack of proofreading activity in RNA dependent RNA polymerase:

• Average error frequency: 1 in 104 or 105 nucleotides polymerized

• Genome replication not as error prone as RNA viruses

• Analysis of an RNA bacteriophage population (Qβ):

• Virus populations exist as dynamic distributions of nonidentical but related

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

• Viral infections are initiated a population of

• The large number of progeny produced are

• The survivors that can re-infect a new host

• For a given RNA virus population, the genome sequences cluster

• A genome with the consensus sequence may not exist in the

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

• Survival of the fittest: A rare genome with a

• Survival of the survivors: However, the linked, but

• Consequently, the product of selection after

• Mutations in viral polymerases that reduce the frequency of incorporation errors

- Lower rates are neither advantageous nor selected in nature

- Mutants are often less pathogenic

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University http://www.virology.ws/2009/05/15/increased-fidelity-reduces-viral-fitness/

• Mutation is a powerful advantage, but selection and survival balances

• This limit is called the error threshold

- Exceed it: loss of infectivity

- Below it: cannot produce enough mutations to survive selection

• RNA viruses: evolve close to their error threshold

• DNA viruses: evolve far below their error threshold

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

• Expose a cell culture infected with a DNA virus to a

• 5-azacytidine is incorporated as a C, but templates

• Mutation rate among viral progeny increases

• When a similar experiment is done with an RNA

• Extreme selective pressures on small populations that result in loss of

• A single RNA virus plaque is picked and expanded

• Next, a single plaque is picked from the expanded stock

• The process is repeated over and over

• After about 20-30 cycles of single-plaque amplification, many virus

• They are markedly less fit than the original population

• The environment is constant, and the only apparent selection is that

• Why does fitness plummet?

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University

• The bottleneck arises by restricting further viral replication to the

- A few thousand progeny viruses derived from a single founder virus

Virology Lectures 2020 • Prof. Vincent Racaniello • Columbia University