Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) has the unusual capacity to circumvent natural alternating mosquito-human transmission and be directly transmitted human to human via sexual and vertical routes. The impact of direct transmission on ZIKV evolution and adaptation to vertebrate hosts is unknown. Here, we show that molecularly barcoded ZIKV rapidly adapted to a mammalian host during direct transmission chains in mice, coincident with the emergence of an amino acid substitution previously shown to enhance virulence. In contrast, little to no adaptation of ZIKV to mice was observed following chains of direct transmission in mosquitoes or alternating host transmission. Detailed genetic analyses revealed that ZIKV evolution in mice was generally more convergent and subjected to more relaxed purifying selection than that in mosquitoes or alternate passages. These findings suggest that prevention of direct human transmission chains is paramount to resist gains in ZIKV virulence.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e02218 |
Journal | Journal of virology |
Volume | 95 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding for this project came from DHHS/PHS/NIH R21AI131454. The publication's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCRR or NIH.
Funding Information:
Genetic drift and strong purifying selection appeared to be the predominant evolutionary forces during serial mosquito and alternating passage. This is supported by the
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
- Aedes aegypti
- Experimental evolution
- Flavivirus
- Host cycling
- Pathogenesis
- Virulence
- Zika virus