Quasispecies in Time-Dependent Environments

Abstract

In recent years, quasispecies theory in time-dependent (that is, dynamically changing) environments has made dramatic progress. Several groups have addressed questions such as how the time scale of the changes affect viral adaptation and quasispecies formation, how environmental changes affect the optimal mutation rate, or how virus and host co-evolve. Here, we review these recent developments, and give a nonmathematical introduction to the most important concepts and results of quasispecies theory in time-dependent environments. We also compare the theoretical results with results from evolution experiments that expose viruses to successive regimes of replication in two or more different hosts.

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