Navigating a fine balance: point-mutant cheater viruses disrupt the viral replication cycle

Abstract Cheater viruses cannot replicate on their own yet replicate faster than the wild type (WT) when the two viruses coinfect the same cell. Cheaters must possess dual genetic features: a defect, which leads to their inability to infect cells on their own, and a selective advantage over WT during co-infection. Previously, we have discovered two point-mutant cheaters of the MS2 bacteriophage. Here, we set out to discover the possible repertoire of cheater MS2 viruses by performing experimental evolution at a very high multiplicity of infection (MOI). Our results revealed a third point-mutant cheater that arose in eight biological replicas. Each of the three primary cheaters disrupts the fine balance necessary for phage replication, in different ways that create a defect + advantage. We found that over time, the point mutant cheaters accumulate additional secondary mutations, which alter other stages of the viral replication cycle, complementing the disruptions created by the original cheater. Intriguingly, cheater and secondary mutations almost always reside in very close proximity on the genome. This region encodes for multiple functions: overlapping reading frames as well as overlapping RNA structures critical for transitioning from one stage to another in the viral replication cycle. This region of overlap explains the dual functions of cheaters, as one mutation can have pleiotropic effects. Overall, these findings underscore how viruses, whose dense genomes often have overlapping functions, can easily evolve point-mutant cheaters, and how cheaters can evolve to alter the intricate balance of the viral replication cycle.