Clinical Sequencing Uncovers Origins and Evolution of Lassa Virus
Name
Lander_Clinical sequencing.pdf
Size
1.45 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
15b27640bb1ea9948cb9edc20bc9e9c2
Author(s)
Sealfon, Rachel Sima
Date Issued
August 2015
Journal
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Andersen, Kristian G. et al. “Clinical Sequencing Uncovers Origins and Evolution of Lassa Virus.” Cell 162.4 (2015): 738–750.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The 2013–2015 West African epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) reminds us of how little is known about biosafety level 4 viruses. Like Ebola virus, Lassa virus (LASV) can cause hemorrhagic fever with high case fatality rates. We generated a genomic catalog of almost 200 LASV sequences from clinical and rodent reservoir samples. We show that whereas the 2013–2015 EVD epidemic is fueled by human-to-human transmissions, LASV infections mainly result from reservoir-to-human infections. We elucidated the spread of LASV across West Africa and show that this migration was accompanied by changes in LASV genome abundance, fatality rates, codon adaptation, and translational efficiency. By investigating intrahost evolution, we found that mutations accumulate in epitopes of viral surface proteins, suggesting selection for immune escape. This catalog will serve as a foundation for the development of vaccines and diagnostics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.020
