Little Evidence for Synergism Among Deleterious Mutations in a Nonsegmented RNA Virus |
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Authors: | Santiago F. Elena |
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Affiliation: | (1) Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biología Evolutiva and Department de Genètica, Universitat de València, Apartado 22085, 46071 València, Spain, ES |
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Abstract: | Several models have been proposed to account for the segmentation of RNA viruses. One of the best known models suggests that segmentation, and mixing of segments during coinfections, is a way to eliminate deleterious mutations from the genome. However, for validity, this model requires that deleterious mutations interact in a synergistic way. That is, two mutations together should have a more deleterious effect than the result of adding their individual effects. Here I present evidence that deleterious mutations in foot-and-mouth disease virus produce a decline in fitness but that the relationship between the number of mutations fixed and the magnitude of fitness decline is compatible mainly with a nonsynergistic model. However, the statistical uncertainties associated with the data still give some room for the existence of very weak synergistic epistasis. Received: 2 November 1998 / Accepted: 19 April 1999 |
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Keywords: | : Deleterious mutations — Epistasis — Fitness — Foot-and-mouth disease virus — Genome segmentation |
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