Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32420495›Full record

ArticleHeliyon2020

A thermodynamic insight into viral infections: do viruses in a lytic cycle hijack cell metabolism due to their low Gibbs energy?

Marko Popovic, Mirjana Minceva

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Heliyon, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
14.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Viral infections: The Biothermodynamics Point of View.Iranian journal of biotechnology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Marko PopovicBiothermodynamics, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Maximus-von-Imhof-Forum 2, 85354, Freising, Germany.
Mirjana MincevaBiothermodynamics, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Maximus-von-Imhof-Forum 2, 85354, Freising, Germany.
Technical University of Munich · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

After adsorption and penetration, a virus hijacks a cell's metabolic machinery and uses it as a medium for its reproduction and growth through multiplication. Growth is competitive, since the same precursors and machinery are used by both the virus and its host cell. But what drives a virus to perform its life cycle more efficiently than its host? Gibbs energy represents the driving force for all chemical reactions in nature. Therefore, hypothetically Gibbs energy of growth can represent the driving force of viral lytic cycle. After chemical characterization of 17 viruses and their hosts, in this paper, growth reactions were suggested, and enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy of both formation and growth were calculated. By comparing the Gibbs energy of growth of viruses and their hosts, it has been found that a virus always has a more negative Gibbs free energy of growth than its host implying that synthesis of viral components is more thermodynamically favorable. Thus, it seems that the physical laws explain observed biological phenomena - the hijack of host life machinery and high efficiency of virus growth.

Indexed as

Biophysical chemistryBiophysicsChemical reaction kineticsGibbs free energy of growthGrowth rateGrowth reactionMicrobiologyOrganism empirical formulaThermodynamicsVirologyVirus

Identifiers

PMID32420495
PMCPMC7218021
OpenAlexW3022521046

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.