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Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 4690-4694, Vol. 83, No. 9
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.02358-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Relaxed Selection and the Evolution of RNA Virus Mucin-Like Pathogenicity Factors{triangledown}

Joel O. Wertheim* and Michael Worobey

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Received 12 November 2008/ Accepted 7 February 2009

Mucin-like regions contribute to pathogenicity in a variety of negative-stranded RNA viruses. These regions are characterized by a preponderance of O-linked glycosylation. They evolve exceptionally rapidly yet maintain their function as pathogenicity factors. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this evolutionary conundrum of phenotypic stability in the face of extreme genetic divergence: strong positive selection and relaxation of purifying selection. We determined the strength and direction of selection codon by codon across genes containing these regions and found that purifying selection is relaxed over the mucin-like regions relative to the genes in which they are found. This suggests that so long as these regions maintain sufficient O-linked glycosylation, they are free to evolve rapidly without loss of function as pathogenicity factors.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences West, 1041 E. Lowell St., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. Phone: (520) 621-4881. Fax: (520) 621-9190. E-mail: wertheim{at}email.arizona.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 18 February 2009.

Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 4690-4694, Vol. 83, No. 9
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.02358-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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