PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maddamsetti, Rohan
AU  - Johnson, Daniel T.
AU  - Spielman, Stephanie J.
AU  - Petrie, Katherine L.
AU  - Marks, Debora S.
AU  - Meyer, Justin R.
TI  - Viral gain-of-function experiments uncover residues under diversifying selection in nature
AID  - 10.1101/242495
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 242495
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/03/242495.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/03/242495.full
AB  - Viral gain-of-function mutations are commonly observed in the laboratory; however, it is unknown whether those mutations also evolve in nature. We identify two key residues in the host recognition protein of bacteriophage λ that are necessary to exploit a new receptor; both residues repeatedly evolved among homologs from environmental samples. Our results provide evidence for widespread host-shift evolution in nature and a proof of concept for integrating experiments with genomic epidemiology.