Comment on "Mutation rate and genotype variation of Ebola virus from Mali case sequences"

Andrew Rambaut; Gytis Dudas; Luiz Max de Carvalho; Daniel J Park; Nathan L Yozwiak; Edward C Holmes; Kristian G Andersen

doi:10.1126/science.aaf3823

Comment on "Mutation rate and genotype variation of Ebola virus from Mali case sequences"

Science. 2016 Aug 12;353(6300):658. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf3823. Epub 2016 Aug 11.

Authors

Andrew Rambaut¹, Gytis Dudas², Luiz Max de Carvalho², Daniel J Park³, Nathan L Yozwiak⁴, Edward C Holmes⁵, Kristian G Andersen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Edinburgh, UK. Centre for Immunology, Infection, and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Edinburgh, UK. a.rambaut@ed.ac.uk kga1978@gmail.com.
² Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, Edinburgh, UK.
³ Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
⁴ Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁵ Marie Bashir Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney Medical School, and School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
⁶ The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Scripps Translational Science Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. a.rambaut@ed.ac.uk kga1978@gmail.com.

PMID: 27516592
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3823

Abstract

Hoenen et al (Reports, 3 April 2015, p. 117; published online 26 March) suggested that the Ebola virus Makona responsible for the West African epidemic evolved more slowly than previously reported. We show that this was based on corrupted data. An erratum provided a rate compatible with the initial and later, more precise, estimates but did not correctly state the nature of the error.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Ebolavirus / genetics*
Genotype
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology*
Humans
Mali / epidemiology
Mutation Rate