The Rate and Character of Spontaneous Mutation in an RNA Virus

Corresponding author: Fernando García-Arenal, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040-Madrid, Spain., fga{at}bit.etsia.upm.es (E-mail)

Communicating editor: S. LOVETT

Estimates of spontaneous mutation rates for RNA viruses are few and uncertain, most notably due to their dependence on tiny mutation reporter sequences that may not well represent the whole genome. We report here an estimate of the spontaneous mutation rate of tobacco mosaic virus using an 804-base cognate mutational target, the viral MP gene that encodes the movement protein (MP). Selection against newly arising mutants was countered by providing MP function from a transgene. The estimated genomic mutation rate was on the lower side of the range previously estimated for lytic animal riboviruses. We also present the first unbiased riboviral mutational spectrum. The proportion of base substitutions is the same as that in a retrovirus but is lower than that in most DNA-based organisms. Although the MP mutant frequency was 0.02–0.05, 35% of the sequenced mutants contained two or more mutations. Therefore, the mutation process in populations of TMV and perhaps of riboviruses generally differs profoundly from that in populations of DNA-based microbes and may be strongly influenced by a subpopulation of mutator polymerases.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Sanjuan, P. Agudelo-Romero, and S. F. Elena Upper-limit mutation rate estimation for a plant RNA virus Biol Lett, June 23, 2009; 5(3): 394 - 396. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Duffy and E. C. Holmes Validation of high rates of nucleotide substitution in geminiviruses: phylogenetic evidence from East African cassava mosaic viruses J. Gen. Virol., June 1, 2009; 90(6): 1539 - 1547. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. E. Simmons, E. C. Holmes, and A. G. Stephenson Rapid evolutionary dynamics of zucchini yellow mosaic virus J. Gen. Virol., April 1, 2008; 89(4): 1081 - 1085. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Duffy and E. C. Holmes Phylogenetic Evidence for Rapid Rates of Molecular Evolution in the Single-Stranded DNA Begomovirus Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus J. Virol., January 15, 2008; 82(2): 957 - 965. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Carrasco, F. de la Iglesia, and S. F. Elena Distribution of Fitness and Virulence Effects Caused by Single-Nucleotide Substitutions in Tobacco Etch Virus J. Virol., December 1, 2007; 81(23): 12979 - 12984. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. de la Iglesia and S. F. Elena Fitness Declines in Tobacco Etch Virus upon Serial Bottleneck Transfers J. Virol., May 15, 2007; 81(10): 4941 - 4947. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Bull, R. Sanjuan, and C. O. Wilke Theory of Lethal Mutagenesis for Viruses J. Virol., March 15, 2007; 81(6): 2930 - 2939. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Martin, M. L. Garcia, A. Troisi, L. Rubio, G. Legarreta, O. Grau, D. Alioto, P. Moreno, and J. Guerri Genetic variation of populations of Citrus psorosis virus. J. Gen. Virol., October 1, 2006; 87(Pt 10): 3097 - 3102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. W. Drake Chaos and Order in Spontaneous Mutation Genetics, May 1, 2006; 173(1): 1 - 8. [Full Text] [PDF]

				P.-Y. Teycheney, N. Laboureau, M.-L. Iskra-Caruana, and T. Candresse High genetic variability and evidence for plant-to-plant transfer of Banana mild mosaic virus J. Gen. Virol., November 1, 2005; 86(11): 3179 - 3187. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. F. Elena and R. Sanjuan Adaptive Value of High Mutation Rates of RNA Viruses: Separating Causes from Consequences J. Virol., September 15, 2005; 79(18): 11555 - 11558. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. W. Drake, A. Bebenek, G. E. Kissling, and S. Peddada Clusters of mutations from transient hypermutability PNAS, September 6, 2005; 102(36): 12849 - 12854. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. F. Marco and M. A. Aranda Genetic diversity of a natural population of Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus J. Gen. Virol., March 1, 2005; 86(3): 815 - 822. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Li and M. J. Roossinck Genetic Bottlenecks Reduce Population Variation in an Experimental RNA Virus Population J. Virol., October 1, 2004; 78(19): 10582 - 10587. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Fargette, A. Pinel, Z. Abubakar, O. Traore, C. Brugidou, S. Fatogoma, E. Hebrard, M. Choisy, Y. Sere, C. Fauquet, et al. Inferring the Evolutionary History of Rice Yellow Mottle Virus from Genomic, Phylogenetic, and Phylogeographic Studies J. Virol., April 1, 2004; 78(7): 3252 - 3261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Sacristan, J. M. Malpica, A. Fraile, and F. Garcia-Arenal Estimation of Population Bottlenecks during Systemic Movement of Tobacco Mosaic Virus in Tobacco Plants J. Virol., September 15, 2003; 77(18): 9906 - 9911. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]