Publications
^co-authorship †corresponding
2024
15•Natural monobacterial environments modulate viral infection in Caenorhabditis elegans
González R†; Félix M-A†
PLoS Pathogens. 20,e1011947. Read here
We discovered that most natural bacteria significantly reduced host susceptibility to the virus compared to a non-natural bacterial environment commonly used in research. Intriguingly, several bacteria induced resistance to infection without degrading virions or providing poor nutrition. Furthermore, we found that these resistance-inducing bacteria did not act through known antiviral responses in the host; however, some bacteria fail to induce the resistance in animals with a hampered DRH-1, a RIG-1 homolog.
2023
14•Genetic basis of Arabidopsis thaliana responses to infection by naïve and adapted isolates of turnip mosaic virus
Butkovic A^; Ellis TJ^; González R^; Jaegle B; Nordborg M†; Elena, SF†
eLife. Read here
This manuscript presents findings that inform our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of the model plant Arabidopsis’ resistance to turnip mosaic virus
13•Host developmental stages shape the evolution of a plant RNA virus
Melero I; González R†; Elena SF†
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 378:20220005. Read here
We studied virus infections and TuMV evolution in three developmental stages of Arabidopsis thaliana
2022
12•A brief view on factors that affect plant virus evolution
González R^†; Butkovic A^†
Frontiers in Virology. 2:994057. Read here
This minireview provides an overview of the most important factors in (plant) virus evolution
11•Defects in plant immunity modulate the rates and patterns of RNA virus evolution
Navarro R; Ambrós S; Butković A; Carrasco JL; González R; Martínez F; Wu B; Elena SF†.
Virus Evolution. veac059. Read here
This work illustrates how different host defense signaling pathways constrain virus evolution
2021
10•The interplay between the host microbiome and pathogenic viral infections.
González R†; Elena SF.
mBio. 12, e02496-21. Read here
This minireview provides an integrative overview of the microbiome impact on viral infection across different pathosystems.
09•A Genome-Wide Association Study identifies Arabidopsis thaliana genes that contribute to differences in the outcome of infection with two Turnip mosaic potyvirus strains that differ in their evolutionary history and degree of host specialization
Butković A; González R; Rivarez MPS; Elena SF†.
Virus evolution. veab063. Read here
Genome-wide study of the Arabidopsis thaliana response to viral infection that identified new host genes involved in plant defence and virus replication.
08•Plant virus evolution under strong drought conditions results in a transition from parasitism to mutualism.
González R; Butković A; Escaray F; Martínez-Latorre J; Melero I; Pérez-Parets E; Gómez-Cadenas A; Carrasco P; Elena SF†.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118, e2020990118. Read here
This work shows that if the environment endangers the host, viruses can evolve to provide a host increased tolerance to the adverse conditions.
07•Revisiting Orthotospovirus phylogeny using full-genome data and testing the contribution of selection, recombination and segments reassortment in the origin of new species.
Butkovic A; González R; Elena SF†.
Archives of Virology. 166, 491–499. Read here
Updated Orthotospovirus phylogeny, using full-genome sequences.
2020
06•Natural variation in Arabidopsis thaliana rosette area unveils new genes involved in plant development
González R^†; Butkovic A^; Rivarez MPS; Elena, SF†.
Scientific Reports. 10, 17600. Read here
Genome-wide study of the Arabidopsis thaliana rosette area that identified new genes involved in plant growth.
05•Adaptation of turnip mosaic potyvirus to a specific niche reduces its genetic and environmental robustness.
Butkovic A; González R; Cobo I; Elena, SF†.
Virus evolution. 6, veaa041. Read here
This work shows that viruses highly adapted to their host are more sensitive to random mutations and temperature conditions than non-adapted viruses.
04•From foes to friends: viral infections expand the limits of host phenotypic plasticity.
González R†^; Butković A^; Elena SF†.
Advances in Virus Research. 106, 85-121. Read here
Review of works showing how viruses can alter their host phenotypic plasticity so they can survive in the face of unpredictable environmental stress.
2019
03•Role of host genetic diversity for susceptibility-to-infection in the evolution of virulence of a plant virus.
González R; Butković A; Elena SF†.
Virus evolution. 5, vez024. Read here
This work illustrates how the genetic diversity of hosts in an ecosystem affects virus adaptation, as viruses specialized faster in homogeneous populations but were more pathogenic in heterogeneous ones.
02•Mutagenesis scanning uncovers evolutionary constraints on tobacco etch potyvirus membrane-associated 6K2 protein.
González R^; Wu B^; Li X; Martínez F†; Elena SF†.
Genome Biology and Evolution. 11, 1207–1222. Read here
Honourable Mention in Best Student Paper Awards for papers published in 2019 in GBE
This study unveils the evolutionary constraints on a 6K2 potyviral protein, with an evolutionary tradeoff between within-host accumulation and severity of symptoms.
2015
01•The scale-of-choice effect and how estimates of assortative mating in the wild can be biased due to heterogeneous samples.
Rolán-Alvarez E†; Carvajal-Rodríguez A; de Coo A; Cortés B; Estévez D; Ferreira M; González R; Briscoe AD.
Evolution. 69, 1845–1857. Read here
This work suggest that the low frequency of negative assortative mating observed in the literature may be due to the investigator’s sampling simple.