Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42040904›Full record

ArticleVirus evolution2026

Single capsid mutations modulating phage adsorption, persistence, and plaque morphology shape evolutionary trajectories in ΦX174.

Manuela Reuter, Michael Sieber, Octavio Reyes-Matte, Christina Vasileiou, Christopher Böhmker, Jordan Romeyer Dherbey, Frederic Bertels, Javier Lopez-Garrido

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Virus evolution, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Manuela ReuterMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5191-3414
Michael SieberMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-3665
Octavio Reyes-MatteMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7031-6213
Christina VasileiouMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.
Christopher BöhmkerMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0098-9816
Jordan Romeyer DherbeyUniversity of Cambridge, Department of Physics, 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6125-1722
Frederic BertelsMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6222-4139
Javier Lopez-GarridoMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Straße 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8907-502X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The evolutionary success of lytic bacteriophages depends on key life-history traits, including adsorption, lysis time, burst size, and persistence in the environment. However, how these traits evolve to allow adaptation to different environments remains poorly understood. Here, we explored this question in ΦX174, combining experimental evolution and mathematical modelling. By investigating how serial transfer conditions shape evolutionary outcomes in liquid culture, we found that the time between transfers imposes divergent selection on adsorption and context-dependent directional selection on persistence. Longer transfer intervals, which allow multiple infection cycles until host depletion, favoured fast-adsorbing, highly persistent mutants that could rapidly initiate infections and remained viable in the absence of the host. In contrast, shorter transfer intervals selected for slower adsorption without substantially altering persistence. Mathematical modelling of phage population dynamics predicted that adsorption evolution during short transfers reflects a trade-off between two opposing selective forces within each transfer: an early phase in which susceptible hosts are abundant and adsorption is productive, favouring fast adsorption, and a later phase in which most hosts are already infected and adsorption primarily removes phage particles

Indexed as

adsorptionlytic bacteriophagepersistencephage evolutionphage therapyΦX174

Identifiers

PMID42040904
PMCPMC13108444

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.