ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2025
The Data are Insufficient to Confidently Root the SARS-CoV-2 Phylogenetic Tree.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Several years ago, I published a paper that described the discrepancy between outgroup and date-based methods for rooting the SARS-CoV-2 phylogenetic tree, and proposed the discrepancy could arise from biases among the available early viral sequences. Here, I explain why the root remains uncertain, including via an interactive narrative at https://nextstrain.org/groups/jbloomlab/narratives/SARS2-rooting/early-SARS2-trees-v1 that enables the reader to examine the underlying data and understand discrepancies that lead different methods to reach different inferences about the root. I also demonstrate clear evidence of bias among the earliest available sequences, and explain why the root of the SARS-CoV-2 tree cannot be conclusively resolved with the current data.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.