Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40006952›Full record

ReviewViruses2025

Evolutionary Mechanisms of the Emergence of the Variants of Concern of SARS-CoV-2.

Igor M Rouzine

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Viruses, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing 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

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Special Issue: Molecular Research and Insights into COVID-19: 2nd Edition.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Viruses · 2025
    Article
  7. 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

1 author.

Igor M RouzineSechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 194223, Russia.ORCID 0000-0002-0744-6705

Funding

Russian Science Foundation 24-24-00529
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The evolutionary origin of the variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2, characterized by a large number of new substitutions and strong changes in virulence and transmission rate, is intensely debated. The leading explanation in the literature is a chronic infection in immunocompromised individuals, where the virus evolves before returning into the main population. The present article reviews less-investigated hypotheses of VOC emergence with transmission between acutely infected hosts, with a focus on the mathematical models of stochastic evolution that have proved to be useful for other viruses, such as HIV and influenza virus. The central message is that understanding the acting factors of VOC evolution requires the framework of stochastic multi-locus evolution models, and that alternative hypotheses can be effectively verified by fitting results of computer simulation to empirical data.

Indexed as

COVID-19Evolution, MolecularSARS-CoV-2HumansModels, TheoreticalMutationVirulencechronic infectioncompensatory mutationimmunosuppressed patientprimary mutationrecombination

Identifiers

PMID40006952
PMCPMC11861269

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.