{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T12:34:48Z","timestamp":1789043688084,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]],"date-time":"2021-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631577600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The host\u2019s immune status may affect virus evolution. Little is known about how developing fetal and placental immune milieus affect virus heterogeneity. This knowledge will help us better understand intra-host virus evolution and how new virus variants emerge. The goal of our study was to find out whether the isolated in utero environment\u2014an environment with specialized placental immunity and developing fetal immunity\u2014supports the emergence of RNA and DNA virus variants. We used well-established porcine models for isolated Zika virus (RNA virus) and porcine circovirus 2 (DNA virus) fetal infections. We found that the isolated in utero environment was conducive to the emergence of RNA and DNA virus variants. Next-generation sequencing of nearly whole virus genomes and validated bioinformatics pipelines identified both unique and convergent single nucleotide variations in virus genomes isolated from different fetuses. Zika virus and PCV2 in utero evolution also resulted in single nucleotide variations previously reported in the human and porcine field samples. These findings should encourage further studies on virus evolution in placenta and fetuses, to better understand how virus variants emerge and how in utero viral evolution affects congenital virus transmission and pathogenicity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v13091827","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]],"date-time":"2021-09-14T23:34:11Z","timestamp":1631662451000},"page":"1827","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The Isolated in Utero Environment Is Conducive to the Emergence of RNA and DNA Virus Variants"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Daniel","family":"Udenze","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3, Canada"},{"name":"School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2849-5140","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivan","family":"Trus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1258-6374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henry","family":"Munyanduki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathalie","family":"Berube","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Uladzimir","family":"Karniychuk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3, Canada"},{"name":"School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2017.02.020","article-title":"Pregnancy-Related Immune Adaptation Promotes the Emergence of Highly Virulent H1N1 Influenza Virus Strains in Allogenically Pregnant Mice","volume":"21","author":"Engels","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dow, N., Chernick, A., Orsel, K., Van Marle, G., and Van Der Meer, F. 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