10.5061/DRYAD.0GB5MKKZW
Edwards, Kyle
0000-0002-0661-3903
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Steward, Grieg
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Schvarcz, Christopher
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Making sense of virus size and the tradeoffs shaping viral fitness
Dryad
dataset
2020
giant virus
phage
Allometric Scaling
burst size
latent period
Diffusivity
decay rate
Phytoplankton
2021-10-02T00:00:00Z
2021-10-02T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13630
123666 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Viruses span an impressive size range, with genome length varying a
thousandfold and virion volume nearly a millionfold. For cellular
organisms the scaling of traits with size is a pervasive influence on
ecological processes, but whether size plays a central role in viral
ecology is unknown. Here we focus on viruses of aquatic unicellular
organisms, which exhibit the greatest known range of virus size. We
outline hypotheses within a quantitative framework, and analyze data where
available, to consider how size affects the primary components of viral
fitness. We argue that larger viruses have fewer offspring per infection
and slower contact rates with host cells, but a larger genome tends to
increase infection efficiency, broaden host range, and potentially
increase attachment success and decrease decay rate. These countervailing
selective pressures may explain why a breadth of sizes exist and even
coexist when infecting the same host populations. Oligotrophic ecosystems
may be enriched in “giant” viruses, because environments with
resource-limited phagotrophs at low concentrations may select for broader
host range, better control of host metabolism, lower decay rate, and a
physical size that mimics bacterial prey. Finally, we describe where
further research is needed to understand the ecology and evolution of
viral size diversity.
All tables are measurements of viral traits compiled from the literature.
Details on the compiled data and their sources are provided in the Excel
files.