TABLE 2.
Virus mutation rates expressed as substitutions per nucleotide per cell infection (μs/n/c)
| Group | Virus | Genome size (kb) | Mean μs/n/ca | Individual studies |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Methodb | μs/n/c | Tsc | cc | αc,d | Error source(s)e | δc | Reference(s) | ||||
| ssRNA(+) | Bacteriophage Qβ | 4.22 | (1.1 × 10−3) | T1 | (1.1 × 10−3) | 1 | 1-10 | NDf | T, + | 22 | |
| Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) | 6.40 | 8.7 × 10−6 | Trans | 8.7 × 10−6 | 723 | 5.7 | 1 | 0.40 | 58 | ||
| Human rhinovirus 14 (HRV-14) | 7.13 | 6.9 × 10−5 | Res | (4.8 × 10−4) | ND | 1/α | 1/c | T, c, α | 93 | ||
| Res | (1.0 × 10−5) | 12 | ND | ND | c, α | 41 | |||||
| Poliovirus 1 (PV-1) | 7.44 | 9.0 × 10−5 | Res | 2.2 × 10−5 | 1 | 2.8-4.6 | ∼1 | T | 17, 30 | ||
| Res | 1.1 × 10−4 | 4 | 2.1 | ND | α | 18 | |||||
| Seq | 3.0 × 10−4 | 8,463 | 3.0 | 0.28 | 90 | ||||||
| Tobacco etch virus (TEV) | 9.49 | 1.2 × 10−5 | Seq | (3.0 × 10−5) | 4,890 | ND | ND | c, α, + | 79 | ||
| Seq | 4.8 × 10−6 | 4,357 | 16-190 | 1 | 0.32 | 88 | |||||
| Hepatitis C virus (HCV) | 9.65 | (1.2 × 10−4) | Seq | (1.2 × 10−4) | 113 | 1/α | 1/c | c, α, + | 13 | ||
| Murine hepatitis virus (MHV) | 31.4 | (3.5 × 10−6) | Seq | (3.5 × 10−6) | 20,163 | 13 | 0.55 | α | 34 | ||
| ssRNA(−) | Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) | 11.2 | 3.5 × 10−5 | Res | (6.9 × 10−5) | 2 | 3.0-6.4 | ND | T, α | 27, 43 | |
| Res | 1.8 × 10−5 | 6 | ∼1 | ND | α | 36 | |||||
| Influenza A virus (FLUVA) | 13.6 | 2.3 × 10−5 | Seq | 4.5 × 10−5 | 2,547 | 5 | 0.33 | 70 | |||
| Seq | 7.1 × 10−6 | 2,547 | 7 | 0.28 | 68 | ||||||
| Res | 3.9 × 10−5 | 4 | 17 | ∼1 | c | 84 | |||||
| Influenza B virus (FLUVB) | 14.5 | 1.7 × 10−6 | Seq | 1.7 × 10−6 | 2,547 | 7 | 0.33 | 68 | |||
| dsRNA | Bacteriophage φ6 | 13.4 | 1.6 × 10−6 | Res | 1.6 × 10−6 | ∼5.6 | 1 | ND | T | 9 | |
| Retro | Duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) | 3.03 | (2.0 × 10−5) | Seq | (2.0 × 10−5) | 1 | ND | ND | T, c, α | 76 | |
| Spleen necrosis virus (SNV) | 7.80 | 3.7 × 10−5 | Trans | 2.4 × 10−5 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 71 | ||
| Trans | 5.8 × 10−5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | T | 24 | |||||
| Murine leukemia virus (MLV) | 8.33 | 3.0 × 10−5 | Trans | 6.0 × 10−6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | T | 89 | ||
| T1 | 4.2 × 10−5 | 4,140 | 1 | 0.48 | 66 | ||||||
| Trans | 1.1 × 10−4 | 76 | 1 | 1 | 0.27 | 29, 69 | |||||
| Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) | 8.42 | 1.7 × 10−5 | Trans | 1.7 × 10−5 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0.12 | 63 | ||
| Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) | 8.50 | 1.6 × 10−5 | Trans | 1.6 × 10−5 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0.10 | 60 | ||
| Human immunodeficiency virus | 9.18 | 2.4 × 10−5 | Trans | 4.9 × 10−5 | 20-219 | 1 | 1 | 0.18 | 61, 62, 64 | ||
| type 1 (HIV-1) | Seq | (1.0 × 10−4) | 25,295 | 1 | ND | α, + | 0.35 | 38 | |||
| Trans | 8.7 × 10−5 | 76 | 1 | 1 | + | 0.07 | 47 | ||||
| Trans | 7.3 × 10−7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 51 | ||||||
| Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) | 9.40 | (1.4 × 10−4) | Other | (1.4 × 10−4) | 3,375 | 1 | ND | c, α | 52 | ||
| ssDNA | Bacteriophage φX174 | 5.39 | 1.1 × 10−6 | Res | 1.3 × 10−6 | 12 | 3.3 | ND | α | 77 | |
| Res | 1.0 × 10−6 | 7 | 1.4 | ND | 12 | ||||||
| Bacteriophage M13 | 6.41 | 7.9 × 10−7 | Trans | 7.9 × 10−7 | 219 | 5.8 | 1 | c | 0.19 | 49 | |
| dsDNA | Bacteriophage λ | 48.5 | 5.4 × 10−7 | Other | 5.4 × 10−7 | 38 | ND | 1 | c | 0.20 | 25, 26 |
| Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) | 152 | 5.9 × 10−8 | Res | 5.9 × 10−8 | 76 | 3 | 1 | 0.17 | 31, 54 | ||
| Bacteriophage T2 | 169 | 9.8 × 10−8 | Other | 9.8 × 10−8 | 1,576 | 1 | ∼1 | 0.37 | 26, 55 | ||
Geometric mean calculated when several estimates are available. Less reliable values are shown in parentheses.
Primary method by which mutations were scored. T1, T1 RNase digestion; Trans, phenotypically observable mutations in transgene or a gene complemented in trans; Res, resistance to drugs, antibodies, or restrictive cell types; Seq, direct sequencing of viral RNA/DNA or sequencing of molecular clones (no phenotypic assay). Notice that the T1, Trans, and Res methods are usually followed by sequencing of mutants.
See Table 1 for definition.
α = 1, neutrality was enforced experimentally; α = 1/c, lethal mutations were scored (in this case no c or α values are needed to estimate μs/n/c).
T, short, unknown, or nonrepresentative mutational target; c, unknown number of cell infection cycles; α, selection was present and could not be corrected; +, a large portion of the mutants may be false positives due to sequencing errors, mutations occurring during transfection, or a poor mutation detection method.
ND, not determined.