Virus Evolution, 2019, 5(2): vez045 doi: 10.1093/ve/vez045 Review article On the stability of sequences inserted into viral genomes Anouk Willemsen1,*,† and Mark P. Zwart2,*,‡ 1Laboratory MIVEGEC (UMR CNRS IRD University of Montpellier), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier cedex 5, France and 2Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Postbus 50, 6700 AB, Wageningen, The Netherlands *Corresponding author: E-mail:
[email protected];
[email protected] †http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8511-3244 ‡http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4361-7636 Abstract Viruses are widely used as vectors for heterologous gene expression in cultured cells or natural hosts, and therefore a large num- ber of viruses with exogenous sequences inserted into their genomes have been engineered. Many of these engineered viruses are viable and express heterologous proteins at high levels, but the inserted sequences often prove to be unstable over time and are rapidly lost, limiting heterologous protein expression. Although virologists are aware that inserted sequences can be unstable, processes leading to insert instability are rarely considered from an evolutionary perspective. Here, we review experimental work on the stability of inserted sequences over a broad range of viruses, and we present some theoretical considerations concerning insert stability. Different virus genome organizations strongly impact insert stability, and factors such as the position of insertion can have a strong effect. In addition, we argue that insert stability not only depends on the characteristics of a particular genome, but that it will also depend on the host environment and the demography of a virus population.