Evolution of virulence of a plant RNA virus in developmental stage-structured host populations
Clicks: 10
ID: 327151
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This
article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score —
reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
Reader Engagement
Emerging Content
2.7
/100
10 views
9 readers
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
EmergingRanked #134 of 253 articles by views in molecular biology and evolution
Most read
Least read
Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 253 in total.
Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet mintedCreate a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.
5
SUSD
one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Natural host populations are age-structured, and developmental stages differ in susceptibility and within-host pathogen dynamics, potentially imposing distinct selective pressures on viruses. However, the evolutionary consequences of host age structure remain poorly understood. We experimentally evolved turnip mosaic potyvirus for five passages in Arabidopsis thaliana populations spanning seven demographic regimes, from juvenile- to mature-dominated cohorts. We quantified disease progression, symptom severity, and viral load, cross-inoculated evolved lineages across host stages to construct infection matrices, and performed whole-population sequencing at passages 1 and 5. Disease traits changed markedly with passage, demography, and their interaction. Disease progression evolved faster in older populations, whereas symptom severity was independent of median age, indicating demographic reweighting of virulence components. Viral load increased across passages and positively correlated with severity, linking within-host fitness to symptoms. Cross-inoculation assays revealed a modular infection network: juvenile-evolved lineages specialized on juvenile hosts, whereas lineages from intermediate and older populations were more generalist. Genomically, we detected both parallel and demography-specific adaptations, including recurrent changes in the viral protein VPg (involved in translation, replication and host interactions) as well as synonymous variants showing consistent or opposing selection across host population stage structures. Overall, host age structure emerges as a major ecological driver of virulence evolution, shaping trade-offs between disease progression and severity and determining specialization versus generalism. These results integrate phenotypic and genomic responses and suggest that manipulating crop age structure could steer virus evolution toward less damaging outcomes.
| Reference Key |
openalex_W7204802464
Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using
SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
|
|---|---|
| Authors | José L Carrasco, Christina Toft, Santiago F. Elena |
| Journal | molecular biology and evolution |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/molbev/msag225
|
| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
Citations
No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.