Broad and dynamic diversification of infectious hepatitis C virus in a constant cellular environment

The study shows that extensive replication of an RNA virus in a constant biological environment does not limit exploration of sequence space and adaptive options. There was no convergence towards a restricted set of adapted genomes. Mutational waves and mutant spectrum broadening affected infectious genomes. Therefore, profound modifications of mutant spectrum composition and consensus sequence diversificationare not exclusively dependent on environmental alterations or the intervention of population bottlenecks.