Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37039557›Full record

ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2023

Evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 Mutational Spectrum.

Jesse D Bloom, Annabel C Beichman, Richard A Neher, Kelley Harris

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
56citing papers in PubMed
–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

56 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Common respiratory virus spectrum and epidemiological trends among children in Northwest China during the post-COVID-19 era.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. On the role of dcm and vsr in Escherichia coli adaptive mutation.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2025
    Article
  8. A Pandemic-Scale Ancestral Recombination Graph for SARS-CoV-2.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jesse D BloomBasic Sciences Division and Computational Biology Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA.ORCID 0000-0003-1267-3408
Annabel C BeichmanDepartment of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Richard A NeherBiozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-2525-1407
Kelley HarrisDepartment of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Funding

Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training GrantT32AG066574 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI David J. Marcinek, Jessica E Young · 2020 to 2026
$5.3M
Investigating the landscape and genetic architecture of germline mutagenesisR35GM133428 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI Kelley Harris · 2019 to 2026
$2.8M
Prospectively characterizing the functional and antigenic effects of mutations to viral entry proteinsR01AI141707 · NIAID · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · PI BLOOM, JESSE D · 2018 to 2022
$2.1M
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNIAID NIH HHS R01 AI141707NIA NIH HHS T32 AG066574NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM133428
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 evolves rapidly in part because of its high mutation rate. Here, we examine whether this mutational process itself has changed during viral evolution. To do this, we quantify the relative rates of different types of single-nucleotide mutations at 4-fold degenerate sites in the viral genome across millions of human SARS-CoV-2 sequences. We find clear shifts in the relative rates of several types of mutations during SARS-CoV-2 evolution. The most striking trend is a roughly 2-fold decrease in the relative rate of G→T mutations in Omicron versus early clades, as was recently noted by Ruis et al. (2022. Mutational spectra distinguish SARS-CoV-2 replication niches. bioRxiv, doi:10.1101/2022.09.27.509649). There is also a decrease in the relative rate of C→T mutations in Delta, and other subtle changes in the mutation spectrum along the phylogeny. We speculate that these changes in the mutation spectrum could arise from viral mutations that affect genome replication, packaging, and antagonization of host innate-immune factors, although environmental factors could also play a role. Interestingly, the mutation spectrum of Omicron is more similar than that of earlier SARS-CoV-2 clades to the spectrum that shaped the long-term evolution of sarbecoviruses. Overall, our work shows that the mutation process is itself a dynamic variable during SARS-CoV-2 evolution and suggests that human SARS-CoV-2 may be trending toward a mutation spectrum more similar to that of other animal sarbecoviruses.

Indexed as

COVID-19Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirusAnimalsGenome, ViralHumansMutationMutation RateSARS-CoV-2equilibrium frequenciesmutational spectrummutation rateSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID37039557
PMCPMC10124870

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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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.