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Genome Biol Evol. 2016 Mar 17. pii: evw061. [Epub ahead of print]
Genome hotspots for nucleotide substitutions and the evolution of influenza A (H1N1) human strains.
Civetta A1, Ostapchuk DC2, Nwali B3.
Author information
Abstract
In recent years a number of studies have brought attention to the role of positive selection during the evolution of antigenic escape by influenza strains. Particularly, the identification of positively selected sites within antigenic domains of viral surface proteins has been used to suggest that the evolution of viral - host receptor binding specificity is driven by selection. Here we show that, following the 1918 outbreak, the antigenic sites of the hemagglutinin (HA) viral surface protein and the stalk region of neuraminidase (NA) became substitution hotspots. The hotspots show similar patterns of nucleotide substitution bias at synonymous and nonsynomous sites. Such bias imposes directionality in amino acid replacements that can influence signals of selection at antigenic sites. Our results suggest that the high accumulation of substitutions within the antigenic sites of HA can explain not only cases of antigenic escape by antigenic drift but also lead to occasional episodes of viral extinction.
? The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
KEYWORDS:
Influenza; antigenic drift; extinction; selection; substitution hotspots
PMID: 26988249 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Free full text
Genome hotspots for nucleotide substitutions and the evolution of influenza A (H1N1) human strains.
Civetta A1, Ostapchuk DC2, Nwali B3.
Author information
Abstract
In recent years a number of studies have brought attention to the role of positive selection during the evolution of antigenic escape by influenza strains. Particularly, the identification of positively selected sites within antigenic domains of viral surface proteins has been used to suggest that the evolution of viral - host receptor binding specificity is driven by selection. Here we show that, following the 1918 outbreak, the antigenic sites of the hemagglutinin (HA) viral surface protein and the stalk region of neuraminidase (NA) became substitution hotspots. The hotspots show similar patterns of nucleotide substitution bias at synonymous and nonsynomous sites. Such bias imposes directionality in amino acid replacements that can influence signals of selection at antigenic sites. Our results suggest that the high accumulation of substitutions within the antigenic sites of HA can explain not only cases of antigenic escape by antigenic drift but also lead to occasional episodes of viral extinction.
? The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
KEYWORDS:
Influenza; antigenic drift; extinction; selection; substitution hotspots
PMID: 26988249 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Free full text