Amphotropism' or amphotropic indicates that a pathogen or parasite like a virus or a bacterium has a wide host range and can infect more than one species or cell culture line. The range is often of a mammalian spread. Amphotropism can be most effectively described in comparison to ecotropic and pantropic pathogens.
Distinctions and Functionality
Amphotropic pathogens are able to affect a relatively wide range of species by having their envelope glycoproteins attack receptors that, due to evolutionary conservation, are structurally similar across species. By exploiting these similarities they are able to extend their range beyond typical ecotropic pathogens, which are only able to identify and attack a specific receptor. However, their range is not as wide as pantropic pathogens, which aren’t reliant on structural similarities to bind.
Amphotropic Virus Examples
- Amphotropic Murine Leukemia Virus
- Coxiella burnetii
- Chlamydia
See also
- Tropism, a list of tropisms
- Ecotropism, indicating a narrow host range
References
- Meissner, Morgan E.; Talledge, Nathaniel; Mansky, Louis M. (2022-06-01). "Molecular Biology and Diversification of Human Retroviruses". Frontiers. 2. doi:10.3389/fviro.2022.872599. PMC 9242851. PMID 35783361.
- Samanthi (November 2021). "What is the Difference Between Ecotropic Amphotropic and Pantropic Virus". DifferenceBetween.
- Coffin, John M; Hughes, Stephen H; Varmus, Harold E (1997). "Receptors". Retroviruses. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
- Sanchez, Savannah E; Goodman, Alan G; Omsland, Anders (2021). "Metabolic Plasticity Aids Amphotropism of Coxiella burnetii". Infect Immun. 89 (12): e0013521. doi:10.1128/IAI.00135-21. PMC 8594591. PMID 34491791.
External links
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