Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33410308›Full record

ArticleZoological research2021

Pitfalls of barcodes in the study of worldwide SARS-CoV-2 variation and phylodynamics.

Jacobo Pardo-Seco, Alberto Gómez-Carballa, Xabier Bello, Federico Martinón-Torres, Antonio Salas

Abstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in Zoological research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
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

5 authors.

Jacobo Pardo-SecoUnidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IDIS), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia 15706, Spain.
Alberto Gómez-CarballaUnidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IDIS), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia 15706, Spain.
Xabier BelloUnidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IDIS), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia 15706, Spain.
Federico Martinón-TorresGenetics, Vaccines and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group (GENVIP), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago (IDIS) and Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Galicia 15706, Spain.
Antonio SalasUnidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IDIS), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia 15706, Spain.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome variation using a minimal number of selected informative sites conforming a genetic barcode presents several drawbacks. We show that purely mathematical procedures for site selection should be supervised by known phylogeny (i) to ensure that solid tree branches are represented instead of mutational hotspots with poor phylogeographic proprieties, and (ii) to avoid phylogenetic redundancy. We propose a procedure that prevents information redundancy in site selection by considering the cumulative informativeness of previously selected sites (as a proxy for phylogenetic-based criteria). This procedure demonstrates that, for short barcodes (e.g., 11 sites), there are thousands of informative site combinations that improve previous proposals. We also show that barcodes based on worldwide databases inevitably prioritize variants located at the basal nodes of the phylogeny, such that most representative genomes in these ancestral nodes are no longer in circulation. Consequently, coronavirus phylodynamics cannot be properly captured by universal genomic barcodes because most SARS-CoV-2 variation is generated in geographically restricted areas by the continuous introduction of domestic variants.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsCOVID-19DNA Barcoding, TaxonomicGenetic VariationGenome, ViralHumansMutationPhylogenyPhylogeographySARS-CoV-2BarcodeCOVID-19Informative subtype markersPhylodynamicsPhylogenySARS-COV-2

Identifiers

PMID33410308
PMCPMC7840454

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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.