10.5061/DRYAD.8CT18
Roche, Benjamin
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Drake, John M.
University of Georgia
Brown, Justin
University of Georgia
Stallknecht, David E.
University of Georgia
Bedford, Trevor
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Rohani, Pejman
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
National Institutes of Health
Data from: Adaptive evolution and environmental durability jointly
structure phylodynamic patterns in avian influenza viruses
Dryad
dataset
2014
Influenza
environmental transmission
Influenza viruses
adaptive evolution
Phylodynamics
2014-08-15T18:54:29Z
2014-08-15T18:54:29Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001931
7222049 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) have been pivotal to the origination of
human pandemic strains. Despite their scientific and public health
significance, however, there remains much to be understood about the
ecology and evolution of AIVs in wild birds, where major pools of genetic
diversity are generated and maintained. Here, we present comparative
phylodynamic analyses of human and AIVs in North America, demonstrating
(i) significantly higher standing genetic diversity and (ii) phylogenetic
trees with a weaker signature of immune escape in AIVs than in human
viruses. To explain these differences, we performed statistical analyses
to quantify the relative contribution of several potential explanations.
We found that HA genetic diversity in avian viruses is determined by a
combination of factors, predominantly subtype-specific differences in host
immune selective pressure and the ecology of transmission (in particular,
the durability of subtypes in aquatic environments). Extending this
analysis using a computational model demonstrated that virus durability
may lead to long-term, indirect chains of transmission that, when coupled
with a short host lifespan, can generate and maintain the observed high
levels of genetic diversity. Further evidence in support of this novel
finding was found by demonstrating an association between subtype-specific
environmental durability and predicted phylogenetic signatures: genetic
diversity, variation in phylogenetic tree branch lengths, and tree height.
The conclusion that environmental transmission plays an important role in
the evolutionary biology of avian influenza viruses—a manifestation of the
“storage effect”—highlights the potentially unpredictable impact of
wildlife reservoirs for future human pandemics and the need for improved
understanding of the natural ecology of these viruses.
H1Aligned sequences for H1 avian subtypeH2Aligned sequences for H1 avian
subtypeH3Aligned sequences for H3 avian subtypeH4Aligned sequences for H4
avian subtypeH5Aligned sequences for H5 avian subtypeH6Aligned sequences
for H6 avian subtypeH7Aligned sequences for H7 avian subtypeH9Aligned
sequences for H9 avian subtypeH10Aligned sequences for H10 avian
subtypeH11Aligned sequences for H11 avian subtypeH12Aligned sequences for
H12 avian subtype
North America