Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33127861›Full record

ArticlemBio2020

Pervasive RNA Secondary Structure in the Genomes of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Coronaviruses.

P Simmonds

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in mBio, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
36citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 12% 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

36 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. "Fertile" Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 RNA More Frequently Occurred in Hairpin Loops That Determine Virus Evolution.APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in COVID-19: A review.Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) · 2022
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
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

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

P SimmondsNuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom Peter.Simmonds@ndm.ox.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-7964-4700
University of Oxford · GB

Funding

Wellcome Trust WT103767MA
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The ultimate outcome of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unknown and is dependent on a complex interplay of its pathogenicity, transmissibility, and population immunity. In the current study, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was investigated for the presence of large-scale internal RNA base pairing in its genome. This property, termed genome-scale ordered RNA structure (GORS) has been previously associated with host persistence in other positive-strand RNA viruses, potentially through its shielding effect on viral RNA recognition in the cell. Genomes of SARS-CoV-2 were remarkably structured, with minimum folding energy differences (MFEDs) of 15%, substantially greater than previously examined viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) (MFED of 7 to 9%). High MFED values were shared with all coronavirus genomes analyzed and created by several hundred consecutive energetically favored stem-loops throughout the genome. In contrast to replication-associated RNA structure, GORS was poorly conserved in the positions and identities of base pairing with other sarbecoviruses-even similarly positioned stem-loops in SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV rarely shared homologous pairings, indicative of more rapid evolutionary change in RNA structure than in the underlying coding sequences. Sites predicted to be base paired in SARS-CoV-2 showed less sequence diversity than unpaired sites, suggesting that disruption of RNA structure by mutation imposes a fitness cost on the virus that is potentially restrictive to its longer evolution. Although functionally uncharacterized, GORS in SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses represents important elements in their cellular interactions that may contribute to their persistence and transmissibility.

Indexed as

AnimalsBase SequenceBetacoronavirusCoronavirusCoronavirus InfectionsCOVID-19Evolution, MolecularGenome, ViralHumansNucleic Acid ConformationPandemicsPneumonia, ViralRNA, ViralSARS-CoV-2Sequence AlignmentRNA, ViralCOVID-19persistenceRNA secondary structureSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID33127861
PMCPMC7642675
OpenAlexW3094935568

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.