ReviewTrends in microbiology2017
Short-Sighted Virus Evolution and a Germline Hypothesis for Chronic Viral Infections.
Review in Trends in microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed.
- A single nucleotide polymorphism collapses phase variation and drives short-sighted evolution of O-antigen inGut microbes · 2026Article
- From sites to structure to serology: a roadmap for structure-aware molecular evolution of antigenically evolving viruses.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Reconciling fast Hepatitis B evolutionary rates with ancient co-divergence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Phylogenetics and molecular evolution to understand and curb the HIV pandemic.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Transcriptomic analysis reveals that BVDV alters immune and metabolic responses toFrontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity and within-host evolution in individuals with persistent infection in the UK: an observational, longitudinal, population-based surveillance study.The Lancet. Microbe · 2025Observational
- Within-host bacterial evolution and the emergence of pathogenicity.Nature microbiology · 2025Review
- Higher Rates of Viral Evolution in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients Linked to Predicted T Cell Epitopes.Viruses · 2025Article
- The consequences of SARS-CoV-2 within-host persistence.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Utility of compartmental models to test the competing hypotheses of pathogen evolution and human intervention.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Short-sighted evolution of virulence for invasive gut microbes: From hypothesis to tests.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The social role of defective viral genomes in chronic viral infections: a commentary on Leeks et al. 2023.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Article
- Open questions in the social lives of viruses.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Review
- The mechanism shaping the logistic growth of mutation proportion in epidemics at population scale.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2023Article
- Natural selection differences detected in key protein domains between non-pathogenic and pathogenic Feline Coronavirus phenotypes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Natural selection differences detected in key protein domains between non-pathogenic and pathogenic feline coronavirus phenotypes.Virus evolution · 2023Article
- Pneumococcal within-host diversity during colonization, transmission and treatment.Nature microbiology · 2022Article
- Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of multi-strain RNA viruses.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Review
- Multicellularity in animals: The potential for within-organism conflict.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Long Term Norovirus Infection in a Patient with Severe Common Variable Immunodeficiency.Viruses · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
With extremely short generation times and high mutability, many viruses can rapidly evolve and adapt to changing environments. This ability is generally beneficial to viruses as it allows them to evade host immune responses, evolve new behaviours, and exploit ecological niches. However, natural selection typically generates adaptation in response to the immediate selection pressures that a virus experiences in its current host. Consequently, we argue that some viruses, particularly those characterised by long durations of infection and ongoing replication, may be susceptible to short-sighted evolution, whereby a virus' adaptation to its current host will be detrimental to its onward transmission within the host population. Here we outline the concept of short-sighted viral evolution and provide examples of how it may negatively impact viral transmission among hosts. We also propose that viruses that are vulnerable to short-sighted evolution may exhibit strategies that minimise its effects. We speculate on the various mechanisms by which this may be achieved, including viral life history strategies that result in low rates of within-host evolution, or the establishment of a 'germline' lineage of viruses that avoids short-sighted evolution. These concepts provide a new perspective on the way in which some viruses have been able to establish and maintain global pandemics.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.