ArticleVirus evolution2026
Evolution and viral properties of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2 subvariant.
Article in Virus evolution, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Immunological imprinting shapes the cross-reactive antibody responses to the KP.2 and LP.8.1 vaccine doses.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Functional and structural basis of Omicron BA.3.2.1 spike.Cell reports · 2026Article
- AI-Driven Approaches for the Detection, Classification, and Surveillance of Viral Pathogens: Current Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Altered infectivity, cell-cell fusion, and immune evasion of SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2 and LP.8.1 variants.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Editorial: Emergence of Cicada (BA.3.2) SARS-CoV-2 and the Implications for COVID-19 Surveillance and Monitoring.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Article
- Antigenic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.3.2.1 and BA.3.2.2 in three animal models.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Predictive modeling of immune escape and antigenic grouping of SARS-CoV-2 variants.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Interim 2025/26 LP.8.1 vaccine effectiveness estimates against COVID-19 from the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN): insights into possible impact of influenza and other respiratory virus co-circulation.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2026Article
- Regulation of virion production by the ORF8 signal peptide across SARS-CoV-2 variants.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Identification and genomic characterization of BA.3.2: a highly divergent BA.3-related SARS-CoV-2 lineage from southern Africa.Virus evolution · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
22 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant BA.3.2 descends from BA.3. It emerged two years after BA.3 ceased to circulate and differs by 39 spike mutations from BA.3. Similar to BA.2.86, which circulated at low levels before giving rise to JN.1, BA.3.2 shows a low but persistent circulation globally. Here, we characterize the phylogenetic origin, infection in cell culture, and neutralization of BA.3.2 using live virus and blood plasma samples collected in South Africa at different stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Like the Omicron BA.2.86 subvariant, we find that BA.3.2 likely emerged in Southern Africa. We also find that an 871 bp deletion removed ORF7 and ORF8. In H1299-ACE2 cells, BA.3.2 has lower cytotoxicity measured as plaque area compared to ancestral SARS-CoV-2 but similar to the co-circulating LP.8.1 Omicron subvariant with which it also shares similar replication and infection focus size. BA.3.2 and LP.8.1 exhibit complete escape from neutralization from pre-Omicron collected plasma samples, have low levels of neutralization by plasma collected in 2024, and higher neutralization by plasma collected in 2025, with BA.3.2 showing moderately lower neutralization than LP.8.1. The emergence of long branch subvariants like BA.3.2 without intermediates likely indicates that unmonitored persistent infections continue to drive large evolutionary shifts in this virus.
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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.