Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 31, 2025

Production of a SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like-Particle System to Investigate Viral Life Cycles In Vitro
Published on: June 6, 2025
SARS-CoV-2 virulence evolution: Avirulence theory, immunity and trade-offs
Samuel Alizon1, Mircea T Sofonea1
1MIVEGEC, CNRS, IRD, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence of the debate on whether host-parasite interactions should evolve towards avirulence. In this review, we first show that SARS-CoV-2 virulence is evolving, before explaining why some expect the mortality caused by the epidemic to converge towards that of human seasonal alphacoronaviruses. Leaning on existing theory, we then include viral evolution into the picture and discuss hypotheses explaining why the virulence has increased since the beginning of the pandemic. Finally, we mention some potential scenarios for the future.
More Related Videos
08:41Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection in K18 hACE2 Transgenic Mice Using Reporter-Expressing Recombinant SARS-CoV-2
Published on: November 5, 2021
06:08Author Spotlight: A Pseudotype Virus System for Assessing Omicron Subvariants and Neutralizing Antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 Research
Published on: September 8, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Limits to Natural Selection
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
Viral Recombination
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
Transduction