Protein evolution in viral quasispecies under selective pressure: A thermodynamic and phylogenetic analysis

Insertion and recombination events at hypervariable region 1 over 9.6 years of hepatitis C virus chronic infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exists as a quasispecies within an infected individual. We have previously reported an in-frame 3 bp insertion event at the N-terminal region of the E2 glycoprotein from a genotype 4a HCV isolate giving rise to an atypical 28 aa hypervariable region (HVR) 1. To further explore quasispecies evolution at the HVR1, serum samples collected over 9.6 years from the same chronically infected, treatment naïve individual were subjected to retrospective clonal analysis. Uniquely, we observed that isolates containing this atypical HVR1 not only persisted for 7.6 years, but dominated the quasispecies swarm. Just as striking was the collapse of this population of variants towards the end of the sampling period in synchrony with variants containing a classical HVR1 from the same lineage. The replication space was subsequently occupied by a second minor lineage, which itself was only intermittently detectable at earlier sampling points. In conjunction with the observed genetic shift, the coexistence of two distinct HVR1 populations facilitated the detection of putative intra-subtype recombinants, which included the identification of the likely ancestral parental donors. Juxtaposed to the considerable plasticity of the HVR1, we also document a degree of mutational inflexibility as each of the HVR1 subpopulations within our dataset exhibited overall genetic conservation and convergence. Finally, we raise the issue of genetic analysis in the context of mixed lineage infections.

Characterization of minority subpopulations in the mutant spectrum of HIV-1 quasispecies by successive specific amplifications

RNA viruses do not replicate as defined genomic nucleotide sequences but rather as complex distributions of mutant genomes termed viral quasispecies. Quasispecies dynamics has a number of relevant biological consequences in ribo- and retroviruses, among these the possible presence of memory genomes as minority components of their mutant spectra. Minority memory genomes reflect those viral subpopulations that were dominant at an earlier phase of viral evolution, and can quickly re-emerge to react to certain selective pressures, as it was documented with HIV-1 in vivo. Therefore, an adequate clinical management of HIV-1 requires the development of experimental methods for the detection and quantification of minority viral subpopulations, even at levels of less than 1% of the total quasispecies. We describe a new approach based on successive, highly specific PCR amplifications, which allows the genetic characterization of minority genomes present in increasingly smaller proportion in viral populations. We have coined the term 'quasispecies diving' to reflect the progressive draw on minority or 'deeper' genomes in the mutant spectrum of the quasispecies. In the case of the multidrug-resistant HIV-1 strain analyzed here, quasispecies diving allowed the detection of mutant minority genomes at an unprecedented level of 0.0054% of the amplified viral population. This approach represents a general strategy for the genetic characterization of smaller minority genomes in complex molecular populations.

Minority memory genomes can influence the evolution of HIV-1 quasispecies in vivo

One of the consequences of viral quasispecies dynamics is the presence, in the mutant spectrum, of minority memory genomes that reflect those variants that were dominant at an earlier phase of the same evolutionary lineage. Replicative and cellular (or anatomical) contributions to quasispecies memory were previously defined during intrahost evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) [Briones, C., Domingo, E., Molina-París, C., 2003. Memory in retroviral quasispecies: experimental evidence and theoretical model for human immunodeficiency virus. J. Mol. Biol. 331, 213-229.]. However, the effects of replicative memory regarding virus evolution in vivo have not been investigated. Here we document that a multidrug-resistant (MDR) HIV-1, present at memory level, determined the ensuing evolution of the virus in an infected patient. Nucleotide sequencing and detailed phylogenetic analyses of sequential viral populations and individual molecular clones evidenced that the progeny of a minority MDR genome during a treatment interruption contributed the dominant genomes when an antiretroviral treatment was restored. An extension of a mathematical model of establishment and maintenance of memory, based on quasispecies theory, supports the experimental data. Therefore a replicative memory subpopulation, not detectable in a consensus nucleotide sequence, affected decisively subsequent states of viral evolution in vivo.