Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 26, 2025
08:41
Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection in K18 hACE2 Transgenic Mice Using Reporter-Expressing Recombinant SARS-CoV-2
Published on: November 5, 2021
3.1K
Genomic and evolutionary comparison between SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses
Zigui Chen1, Siaw S Boon1, Maggie H Wang2
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Journal of Virological Methods
|December 8, 2020
Summary
Human coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 evolved over long periods in animal hosts. Genomic analysis suggests SARS-CoV-2 may have enhanced host fitness, contributing to its pandemic success.
Area of Science:
- * Virology and evolutionary biology.
- * Genomic analysis of pathogenic human coronaviruses.
Background:
- * Three highly pathogenic human coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV) cause severe respiratory illness.
- * Phylogenetic studies suggest ancient origins from animal reservoirs, but detailed evolutionary history requires further establishment.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To establish the evolutionary history of human coronaviruses.
- * To investigate genomic features correlating with pathogenicity and pandemic potential.
Main Methods:
- * Phylogenetic analysis to determine evolutionary relationships.
- * Analysis of high-order genomic structures: trimer frequencies, codon usage bias, and dinucleotide suppression patterns.
Main Results:
- * Human coronaviruses cluster phylogenetically with their closest animal relatives, indicating long evolutionary histories in specific niches.
- * SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 share a similar evolutionary origin.
- * SARS-CoV-2 exhibits distinct genomic features (lower Effective Codon Number, increased CpG suppression) compared to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, suggesting potentially higher host fitness.
Conclusions:
- * Genomic characterization provides insights into coronavirus evolution and virus-host interactions.
- * Distinct genomic patterns in SARS-CoV-2 may explain its pandemic success.
- * Further research is needed to understand the mechanistic basis of pathogenicity.
Related Concept Videos
02:54Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
6.6K
Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...
6.6K
00:36Viral Mutations
38.0K
A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material...
38.0K
01:05Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
17.4K
A single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP is a single nucleotide variation at a specific genomic position in a large population. It is the most prevalent type of sequence variation found in the human genome. Point mutations that occur in more than 1% of the population qualify as SNPs. These are present once every 1000 nucleotides on an average in the human genome. Replacement of a purine with another purine (A/G) or a pyrimidine with another pyrimidine (C/T) is known as a transition. In contrast,...
17.4K
02:16Comparing Mitochondrial, Chloroplast, and Prokaryotic Genomes
14.7K
The present-day mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes have retained some of the characteristics of their ancestral prokaryotes and also have acquired new attributes during their evolution within eukaryotic cells. Like prokaryotic genomes, mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes neither bind with histone-like proteins nor show complex packaging into chromosome-like structures, as observed in eukaryotes. Unlike mitotic cell divisions observed in eukaryotic cells, mitochondria and chloroplasts...
14.7K
02:31Synteny and Evolution
3.5K
John H. Renwick first coined the term “synteny” in 1971, which refers to the genes present on the same chromosomes, even if they are not genetically linked. The species with common ancestry tend to show conserved syntenic regions. Therefore, the concept of synteny is nowadays used to describe the evolutionary relationship between species.
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
3.5K
01:26Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
452
Viral genomes exhibit remarkable diversity in size, structure, and composition, influencing their replication strategies and interactions with host cells. These genomes consist of either DNA or RNA and may be linear or circular. Additionally, they can be single-stranded or double-stranded, with each configuration affecting how the virus propagates within a host. RNA viruses, for instance, generally have smaller genomes than DNA viruses, a factor that contributes to their high mutation rates and...
452