Membrane-Associated Enteroviruses Undergo Intercellular Transmission as Pools of Sibling Viral Genomes

Abstract

Summary: Some viruses are released from cells as pools of membrane-associated virions. By increasing the multiplicity of infection (MOI), this type of collective dispersal could favor viral cooperation, but also the emergence of cheater-like viruses such as defective interfering particles. To better understand this process, we examined the genetic diversity of membrane-associated coxsackievirus infectious units. We find that infected cells release membranous structures (including vesicles) that contain 8–21 infectious particles on average. However, in most cases (62%–93%), these structures do not promote the co-transmission of different viral genetic variants present in a cell. Furthermore, collective dispersal has no effect on viral population sequence diversity. Our results indicate that membrane-associated collective infectious units typically contain viral particles derived from the same parental genome. Hence, if cooperation occurs, it should probably involve sibling viral particles rather than different variants. As shown by social evolution theory, cooperation among siblings should be robust against cheater invasion. : Enteroviruses can be transmitted as pools of membrane-associated virions. Bou et al. show that these pools tend to be constituted by sibling viral genomes, preventing the widespread mixing of different virus variants. Keywords: enterovirus, viral transmission, collective infectious unit, extracellular vesicles, social evolution