Comparative analysis estimates the relative frequencies of co-divergence and cross-species transmission within viral families

Author summary Emerging infectious diseases are often characterized by host switching events, in which a pathogen jumps from its original host to infect a novel species. However, given the ecological and genetic barriers a virus must overcome to jump species and adapt to new hosts, it might be reasonable to assume that successful cross-species transmission is a relatively rare occurrence and that viruses are instead more likely to co-diverge with their hosts. Using a comparative co-phylogenetic analysis performed at the scale of virus family we have revealed that co-divergence is relatively infrequent among 19 diverse families of RNA and DNA viruses, such that cross-species transmission plays a central role in virus evolution. Host jumping was especially common in viruses with RNA genomes, and by drawing broad-scale comparisons our analysis reveals which virus families have a greater propensity to jump species barriers and hence successfully emerge in new hosts. Finally, our data suggest that sampling more viruses increases the likelihood of detecting host jumping events.See it on Scoop.it, via Viruses and Bioinformatics from Virology.uvic.ca
Comparative analysis estimates the relative frequencies of co-divergence and cross-species transmission within viral families
Source: Viral Bioinformatics