Profiles of Adaptation in Two Similar Viruses

Corresponding author: J. J. Bull, Section of Integrative Biology, Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1023., bull{at}bull.biosci.utexas.edu (E-mail)

Communicating editor: Y.-X. FU

The related bacteriophages X174 and G4 were adapted to the inhibitory temperature of 44° and monitored for nucleotide changes throughout the genome. Phage were evolved by serial transfer at low multiplicity of infection on rapidly dividing bacteria to select genotypes with the fastest rates of reproduction. Both phage showed overall greater fitness effects per substitution during the early stages of adaptation. The fitness of X174 improved from -0.7 to 5.6 doublings of phage concentration per generation. Five missense mutations were observed. The earliest two mutations accounted for 85% of the ultimate fitness gain. In contrast, G4 required adaptation to the intermediate temperature of 41.5° before it could be maintained at 44°. Its fitness at 44° increased from -2.7 to 3.2, nearly the same net gain as in X174, but with three times the opportunity for adaptation. Seventeen mutations were observed in G4: 14 missense, 2 silent, and 1 intergenic. The first 3 missense substitutions accounted for over half the ultimate fitness increase. Although the expected pattern of periodic selective sweeps was the most common one for both phage, some mutations were lost after becoming frequent, and long-term polymorphism was observed. This study provides the greatest detail yet in combining fitness profiles with the underlying pattern of genetic changes, and the results support recent theories on the range of fitness effects of substitutions fixed during adaptation.

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