Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2025

Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection in K18 hACE2 Transgenic Mice Using Reporter-Expressing Recombinant SARS-CoV-2
Published on: November 5, 2021
Evolutionary Mechanisms of the Emergence of the Variants of Concern of SARS-CoV-2
1Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 194223, Russia.
Abstract:
The evolutionary origin of the variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2, characterized by a large number of new substitutions and strong changes in virulence and transmission rate, is intensely debated. The leading explanation in the literature is a chronic infection in immunocompromised individuals, where the virus evolves before returning into the main population. The present article reviews less-investigated hypotheses of VOC emergence with transmission between acutely infected hosts, with a focus on the mathematical models of stochastic evolution that have proved to be useful for other viruses, such as HIV and influenza virus. The central message is that understanding the acting factors of VOC evolution requires the framework of stochastic multi-locus evolution models, and that alternative hypotheses can be effectively verified by fitting results of computer simulation to empirical data.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Viral Recombination
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
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...
Genetic Drift

