Viral niche construction alters hosts and ecosystems at multiple scales

Abstract

The classical picture of viruses focuses on pathogenic viruses damaging the host's cells and physiology and host-pathogen immune coevolution. However, a broader picture of viruses is emerging that includes weakly pathogenic, commensal, or even mutualistic viruses and includes gross behavioural manipulations and viral effects on ecosystems. In this paper, we argue for niche construction as a unifying perspective on viral evolution. As obligate intracellular parasites, viruses are always modifying their environment, and these modifications drive evolutionary feedback between the virus and its environment across multiple scales from cells to ecosystems. We argue that niche construction will provide new insights into viral evolution, and that virology is a powerful source of empirical tests for niche construction.

Keywords: host-pathogen coevolution; niche construction; viruses.