Amphotropism

Amphotropism' or amphotropic indicates that a pathogen or parasite like a virus or a bacterium has a wide host range and can infect more than one species or cell culture line. The range is often of a mammalian spread. Amphotropism can be most effectively described in comparison to ecotropic and pantropic pathogens.

Distinctions and Functionality

Amphotropic pathogens are able to affect a relatively wide range of species by having their envelope glycoproteins attack receptors that, due to evolutionary conservation, are structurally similar across species.^[1] By exploiting these similarities they are able to extend their range beyond typical ecotropic pathogens, which are only able to identify and attack a specific receptor. However, their range is not as wide as pantropic pathogens, which aren’t reliant on structural similarities to bind.^[2]

Amphotropic Virus Examples

• Amphotropic Murine Leukemia Virus ^[3]
• Coxiella burnetii ^[4]
• Chlamydia

See also

• Tropism, a list of tropisms
• Ecotropism, indicating a narrow host range