{"97011":{"#nid":"97011","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Show How New Viruses Evolve, and in Some Cases, Become Deadly","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn\nthe current issue of the journal \u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E,\nresearchers at Michigan State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology\nand the University of Texas at Austin demonstrate how a new virus evolves,\nwhich sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous\nmutations.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe\nscientists showed for the first time how the virus called \u201cLambda\u201d evolved to\nfind a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to\naccomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common \u003Cem\u003EE. coli\u003C\/em\u003E bacterium. Lambda isn\u2019t\ndangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex\nand potentially deadly new traits, said Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who\nco-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor\nof Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\nwere surprised at first to see Lambda evolve this new function, this ability to\nattack and enter the cell through a new receptor\u0026shy; \u2013 and it happened so fast,\u201d\nMeyer said. \u201cBut when we re-ran the evolution experiment, we saw the same thing\nhappen over and over.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis\npaper comes on the heels of news that scientists in the U.S. and the\nNetherlands produced a deadly version of bird flu. Even though bird flu is a\nmere five mutations away from becoming transmissible between humans, it\u2019s\nhighly unlikely the virus could naturally obtain all of the beneficial\nmutations all at once. However, it might evolve sequentially, gaining benefits\none-by-one, if conditions are favorable at each step, he added.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough\nresearch conducted at BEACON, MSU\u2019s National Science Foundation Center for the\nStudy of Evolution in Action, Meyer and his colleagues\u2019 ability to duplicate\nthe results implied that adaptation by natural selection, or survival of the\nfittest, had an important role in the virus\u2019 evolution.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen\nthe genomes of the adaptable virus were sequenced, they always had four\nmutations in common.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe\nparallelism shown in the evolutionary history of adaptable viruses was striking\nand was far beyond what is expected by chance,\u201d noted paper co-author \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/people\/joshua-weitz\u0022\u003EJoshua Weitz\u003C\/a\u003E, an\nassistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of\nBiology\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn\ncontrast, the viruses that didn\u2019t evolve the new way of entering cells had some\nof the four mutations but never all four together, said Meyer, who holds the\nBarnett Rosenberg Fellowship in MSU\u2019s College of Natural Science.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn\nother words, natural selection promoted the virus\u2019 evolution because the\nmutations helped them use both their old and new attacks,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cThe\nfinding raises questions of whether the five bird flu mutations may also have\nmultiple functions, and could they evolve naturally?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditional\nauthors of the paper include Devin Dobias, former MSU undergraduate (now a\ngraduate student at Washington University in St. Louis); Ryan Quick, MSU\nundergraduate; and Jeff Barrick, a former Lenski lab researcher now on the\nfaculty at the University of Texas at Austin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFunding\nfor the research was provided in part by the National Science Foundation,\nDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency, James S. McDonnell Foundation and\nBurroughs Wellcome Fund.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research was supported in part by\nthe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (Award No.\nHR0011-09-1-0055) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The content is\nsolely the responsibility of the principal investigator and does not\nnecessarily represent the official views of DARPA or NSF.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations\nContacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Georgia Tech -- Abby Robinson (abby@innovate.gatech.edu; 404-385-3364) or John\nToon (jtoon@gatech.edu; 404-894-6986); Michigan State University -- Layne Cameron (layne.cameron@ur.msu.edu; 517-353-8819)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter: \u003C\/strong\u003ELayne Cameron\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn the current issue of the journal\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E, researchers demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"researchers demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations."}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2012-01-26 15:30:01","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:11:02","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-01-26T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-01-26T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"96991":{"id":"96991","type":"image","title":"Joshua Weitz","body":null,"created":"1449178133","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:53","changed":"1475894709","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:09","alt":"Joshua Weitz","file":{"fid":"193921","name":"weitzr094_hires.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzr094_hires_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzr094_hires_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":860240,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/weitzr094_hires_0.jpg?itok=6oL4cC4E"}},"97001":{"id":"97001","type":"image","title":"Joshua Weitz","body":null,"created":"1449178133","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:53","changed":"1475894709","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:09","alt":"Joshua Weitz","file":{"fid":"193922","name":"weitzr073_hires.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzr073_hires_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzr073_hires_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1138693,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/weitzr073_hires_0.jpg?itok=A6Dzjclv"}}},"media_ids":["96991","97001"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"3028","name":"evolution"},{"id":"11599","name":"Joshua Weitz"},{"id":"4292","name":"virus"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbby Robinson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nResearch News and Publications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:abby@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eabby@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n404-385-3364\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}