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Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy
Following widespread infections of the most recent coronavirus known to infect humans, SARS‐CoV‐2, attention has turned to potential therapeutic options. With no drug or vaccine yet approved, one focal point of research is to evaluate the potential value of repurposing existing antiviral treatments,...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Blackwell Publishing Inc
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7993354/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33047822 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/evo.14107 |
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author | Jensen, Jeffrey D. Stikeleather, Ryan A. Kowalik, Timothy F. Lynch, Michael |
author_facet | Jensen, Jeffrey D. Stikeleather, Ryan A. Kowalik, Timothy F. Lynch, Michael |
author_sort | Jensen, Jeffrey D. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Following widespread infections of the most recent coronavirus known to infect humans, SARS‐CoV‐2, attention has turned to potential therapeutic options. With no drug or vaccine yet approved, one focal point of research is to evaluate the potential value of repurposing existing antiviral treatments, with the logical strategy being to identify at least a short‐term intervention to prevent within‐patient progression, while long‐term vaccine strategies unfold. Here, we offer an evolutionary/population‐genetic perspective on one approach that may overwhelm the capacity for pathogen defense (i.e., adaptation) – induced mutational meltdown – providing an overview of key concepts, review of previous theoretical and experimental work of relevance, and guidance for future research. Applied with appropriate care, including target specificity, induced mutational meltdown may provide a general, rapidly implemented approach for the within‐patient eradication of a wide range of pathogens or other undesirable microorganisms. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7993354 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Blackwell Publishing Inc |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79933542021-03-25 Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy Jensen, Jeffrey D. Stikeleather, Ryan A. Kowalik, Timothy F. Lynch, Michael Evolution Perspective Following widespread infections of the most recent coronavirus known to infect humans, SARS‐CoV‐2, attention has turned to potential therapeutic options. With no drug or vaccine yet approved, one focal point of research is to evaluate the potential value of repurposing existing antiviral treatments, with the logical strategy being to identify at least a short‐term intervention to prevent within‐patient progression, while long‐term vaccine strategies unfold. Here, we offer an evolutionary/population‐genetic perspective on one approach that may overwhelm the capacity for pathogen defense (i.e., adaptation) – induced mutational meltdown – providing an overview of key concepts, review of previous theoretical and experimental work of relevance, and guidance for future research. Applied with appropriate care, including target specificity, induced mutational meltdown may provide a general, rapidly implemented approach for the within‐patient eradication of a wide range of pathogens or other undesirable microorganisms. Blackwell Publishing Inc 2020-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7993354/ /pubmed/33047822 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/evo.14107 Text en © 2020, Society for the Study of Evolution https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_modelThis article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic or until permissions are revoked in writing. Upon expiration of these permissions, PMC is granted a perpetual license to make this article available via PMC and Europe PMC, consistent with existing copyright protections. |
spellingShingle | Perspective Jensen, Jeffrey D. Stikeleather, Ryan A. Kowalik, Timothy F. Lynch, Michael Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title | Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title_full | Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title_fullStr | Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title_full_unstemmed | Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title_short | Imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
title_sort | imposed mutational meltdown as an antiviral strategy |
topic | Perspective |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7993354/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33047822 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/evo.14107 |
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