A virus infecting a host faces a heterogeneous and a spatially structured environment. Using a model that incorporates two types of target cells and spatial structuring, we investigate conditions for viral diversification. Applying our model to the case of HIV, we show that it captures all the main properties of the ‘co-receptor switch’ observed in many HIV infections. This suggests that the co-receptor switch could result from adaptation of the virus to target cell heterogeneity. More generally, we argue that evolutionary ecology can help us better understand the course of some infections.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1024287316