ArticlePLoS pathogens2021
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in domestic cats imposes a narrow bottleneck.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 entry: implications for biomedical strategies.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- An emerging PB2-627 polymorphism increases the zoonotic risk of avian influenza virus by overcoming ANP32 host restriction in mammalian and avian hosts.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- The effect of molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir on SARS-CoV-2 genome diversity in severe models of COVID-19.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Tradeoffs between proliferation and transmission in virus evolution- insights from evolutionary and functional analyses of SARS-CoV-2.Virology journal · 2025Article
- JUNIPER: Reconstructing Transmission Events from Next-Generation Sequencing Data at Scale.Research square · 2025Article
- JUNIPER: Reconstructing Transmission Events from Next-Generation Sequencing Data at Scale.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- The recurrent Spike A222V mutation in SARS-CoV-2 enhances replication in primary deer lung cells.Virus evolution · 2025Article
- Experimental co-infection of calves with SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants of concern.Emerging microbes & infections · 2024Article
- SARS-COV-2 SEROSURVEY OF HEALTHY, PRIVATELY OWNED CATS PRESENTING TO A NEW YORK CITY ANIMAL HOSPITAL IN THE EARLY PHASE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (2020-2021).bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Clinical and Genomic Perspective of SARS CoV-2 Infection in Liver Disease Patients: A Single-Centre Retrospective Study.Current microbiology · 2024Article
- Utilizing Feline Lentiviral Infection to Establish a Translational Model for COVID-19 in People with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Ingrained: Rice farming and the risk of zoonotic spillover, examples from Cambodia.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Review
- Interferons and tuft cell numbers are bottlenecks for persistent murine norovirus infection.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Vero cell-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain shows increased viral growth through furin-mediated efficient spike cleavage.Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- The multi-dimensional challenges of controlling respiratory virus transmission in indoor spaces: Insights from the linkage of a microscopic pedestrian simulation and SARS-CoV-2 transmission model.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Transmission Bottleneck Size Estimation from De Novo Viral Genetic Variation.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Assessing the Potential Role of Cats (Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Intra- vs. Interhost Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Driven by Uncorrelated Selection-The Evolution Thwarted.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 in Domestic UK Cats from Alpha to Omicron: Swab Surveillance and Case Reports.Viruses · 2023Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The evolutionary mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 viruses adapt to mammalian hosts and, potentially, undergo antigenic evolution depend on the ways genetic variation is generated and selected within and between individual hosts. Using domestic cats as a model, we show that SARS-CoV-2 consensus sequences remain largely unchanged over time within hosts, while dynamic sub-consensus diversity reveals processes of genetic drift and weak purifying selection. We further identify a notable variant at amino acid position 655 in Spike (H655Y), which was previously shown to confer escape from human monoclonal antibodies. This variant arises rapidly and persists at intermediate frequencies in index cats. It also becomes fixed following transmission in two of three pairs. These dynamics suggest this site may be under positive selection in this system and illustrate how a variant can quickly arise and become fixed in parallel across multiple transmission pairs. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in cats involved a narrow bottleneck, with new infections founded by fewer than ten viruses. In RNA virus evolution, stochastic processes like narrow transmission bottlenecks and genetic drift typically act to constrain the overall pace of adaptive evolution. Our data suggest that here, positive selection in index cats followed by a narrow transmission bottleneck may have instead accelerated the fixation of S H655Y, a potentially beneficial SARS-CoV-2 variant. Overall, our study suggests species- and context-specific adaptations are likely to continue to emerge. This underscores the importance of continued genomic surveillance for new SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as heightened scrutiny for signatures of SARS-CoV-2 positive selection in humans and mammalian model systems.
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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.