Contribution of Silent Mutations to Thermal Adaptation of RNA Bacteriophage Qβ

Changes in protein function and other biological properties, such as RNA structure, are crucial for adaptation of organisms to novel or inhibitory environments. To investigate how mutations that do not alter amino acid sequence may be positively selected, we performed a thermal adaptation experiment using the single-stranded RNA bacteriophage Q beta in which the culture temperature was increased from 37.2 degrees C to 41.2 degrees C and finally to an inhibitory temperature of 43.6 degrees C in a stepwise manner in three independent lines. Whole-genome analysis revealed 31 mutations, including 14 mutations that did not result in amino acid sequence alterations, in this thermal adaptation. Eight of the 31 mutations were observed in all three lines. Reconstruction and fitness analyses of Q beta strains containing only mutations observed in all three lines indicated that five mutations that did not result in amino acid sequence changes but increased the amplification ratio appeared in the course of adaptation to growth at 41.2 degrees C. Moreover, these mutations provided a suitable genetic background for subsequent mutations, altering the fitness contribution from deleterious to beneficial. These results clearly showed that mutations that do not alter the amino acid sequence play important roles in adaptation of this single-stranded RNA virus to elevated temperature. IMPORTANCE Recent studies using whole-genome analysis technology suggested the importance of mutations that do not alter the amino acid sequence for adaptation of organisms to novel environmental conditions. It is necessary to investigate how these mutations may be positively selected and to determine to what degree such mutations that do not alter amino acid sequences contribute to adaptive evolution. Here, we report the roles of these silent mutations in thermal adaptation of RNA bacteriophage Q based on experimental evolution during which Q beta showed adaptation to growth at an inhibitory temperature. Intriguingly, four synonymous mutations and one mutation in the untranslated region that spread widely in the Q beta population during the adaptation process at moderately high temperature provided a suitable genetic background to alter the fitness contribution of subsequent mutations from deleterious to beneficial at a higher temperature.