发表机构
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC)（天体生物学中心; 国家自然科学博物馆; 复杂系统跨学科小组）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。AI 中文总结
该论文综述了噬菌体Q$\eta$自1961年发现以来六十年间作为分子与病毒进化模型系统的贡献，涵盖无细胞复制、准种理论、进化实验及合成生物学应用，阐明了进化的一般原理。
AI 中文摘要
噬菌体Q$\eta$于1961年首次分离，六十多年来一直作为分子和病毒进化的模型系统。基于Q$\eta$复制酶的无细胞复制系统的发展，首次证明了RNA分子中的达尔文进化。与此同时，该噬菌体紧凑的RNA基因组、高突变率和易于繁殖的特性，使Q$\eta$成为研究病毒进化的极其易处理的模型。广泛遗传异质性的发现使Q$\eta$成为第一个分子准种理论得到直接实验支持的生物系统。在此基础上，数十年来在热、生态和诱变压力下的进化实验确立了突变、选择、上位效应和种群结构如何共同塑造适应性轨迹。深度测序最近使Q$\eta$种群的突变谱得以解析为大型、结构化的基因型网络，揭示了围绕优势序列的层级组织，将经典的突变-选择平衡推广为动态过程，并发现了与自然宿主内进化的RNA病毒共有的拓扑特征。与此同时，Q$\eta$复制系统的催化核心已在合成生物学中被重新利用，以在区室化的类细胞系统中复兴无细胞达尔文进化，为研究生命的起源和早期进化开辟了新途径。最近进一步的工作将噬菌体推向了新的实验领域，包括极端的天体生物学相关环境和用于肽展示的生物技术平台。总之，这些发展表明，单一噬菌体如何反复预见并继续阐明分子、种群和生态进化的一般原理。
英文摘要
Bacteriophage Q$β$, first isolated in 1961, has served for more than six decades as a model system for molecular and viral evolution. The development of cell-free replication systems based on the Q$β$ replicase enabled the first demonstrations of Darwinian evolution in RNA molecules. In parallel, the phage's compact RNA genome, high mutation rate, and ease of propagation established Q$β$ as an exceptionally tractable model for studying viral evolution. The discovery of extensive genetic heterogeneity made of Q$β$ the first biological system in which molecular quasispecies theory found direct experimental support. Building on this foundation, decades of evolution experiments under thermal, ecological, and mutagenic pressures established how mutation, selection, epistasis, and population structure jointly shape adaptive trajectories. Deep sequencing has recently allowed the mutant spectrum of Q$β$ populations to be resolved as large, structured genotype networks, revealing a hierarchical organization around dominant sequences that generalizes classical mutation-selection balance to a dynamic process, and uncovering topological features shared with RNA viruses evolving within natural hosts. In parallel, the catalytic core of the Q$β$ replication system has been repurposed in synthetic biology to revive cell-free Darwinian evolution within compartmentalized, cell-like systems, opening new avenues for studying the origin and early evolution of life. Further recent work has pushed the phage into new experimental territories, including extreme, astrobiologically relevant environments and biotechnological platforms for peptide display. Together, these developments illustrate how a single bacteriophage has repeatedly anticipated and continues to clarify general principles of molecular, population, and ecological evolution.
CommentsReview. 21 pages, 1 figure, 1 table
