SARS-CoV-2 one year on: evidence for ongoing viral adaptation
Autor: | Julian A. Hiscox, Wendy S. Barclay, Rebekah Penrice-Randal, Thomas P. Peacock |
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Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
viruses 030106 microbiology Population coronavirus Reviews Single-nucleotide polymorphism adaptation Biology Virus Replication Virus Viral Proteins 03 medical and health sciences Genetic drift Zoonoses Virology Genetic variation Pandemic Animals Humans mutant education Antigens Viral Immune Evasion Host factor education.field_of_study SARS-CoV-2 pandemic COVID-19 Virus Internalization Adaptation Physiological 030104 developmental biology Viral evolution Mutation Spike Glycoprotein Coronavirus RNA Viral |
Zdroj: | The Journal of General Virology |
ISSN: | 1465-2099 0022-1317 |
Popis: | SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have originated in the human population from a zoonotic spillover event. Infection in humans results in a variety of outcomes ranging from asymptomatic cases to the disease COVID-19, which can have significant morbidity and mortality, with over two million confirmed deaths worldwide as of January 2021. Over a year into the pandemic, sequencing analysis has shown that variants of SARS-CoV-2 are being selected as the virus continues to circulate widely within the human population. The predominant drivers of genetic variation within SARS-CoV-2 are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) caused by polymerase error, potential host factor driven RNA modification, and insertion/deletions (indels) resulting from the discontinuous nature of viral RNA synthesis. While many mutations represent neutral ‘genetic drift’ or have quickly died out, a subset may be affecting viral traits such as transmissibility, pathogenicity, host range, and antigenicity of the virus. In this review, we summarise the current extent of genetic change in SARS-CoV-2, particularly recently emerging variants of concern, and consider the phenotypic consequences of this viral evolution that may impact the future trajectory of the pandemic. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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