Viral evolution articles from across Nature Portfolio

Analysis of publicly available viral genomes shows that humans may give more viruses to animals than they give to us, and reveals evolutionary mechanisms underpinning viral host jumps.

The Omicron BA.2.86 subvariant differs from previous variants by over 30 spike mutations. Here, the authors report that BA.2.86 likely evolved in Southern Africa and that its immune escape is not larger than recently circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains. Neither its replication nor its pathogenicity are enhanced in vitro.

In this Journal Club, Gonzalo Moratorio discusses a study using deep mutational scanning (DMS) to uncover how the influenza virus evades the host immune response, highlighting the potential of DMS in understanding the evolutionary arms race between pathogens and hosts.

This study reports that human BTN3A3 restricts replication of avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) but not human IAVs, and that BTN3A3 evasion promotes spillover into humans.

SARS-CoV-2 lineages circulating in animal reservoirs may broaden the evolutionary potential of the virus and increase the risk of novel variants emerging. There is an urgent need for more-comprehensive surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in nonhuman hosts.

This study reports the identification of a highly divergent lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer and provides evidence of deer-to-human transmission.

A new study identified two distinct lineages of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in the United States with evidence of genome editing by host apolipoprotein B editing complex (APOBEC3) cytosine deaminase, which might be accelerating MPXV evolution.

Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 evolution during chronic infection reveals that in this setting, the virus evolves to bear mutations similar to those seen in variants of concern, and that many of these mutations are associated with antibody evasion. However, as mutations associated with high SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility are not observed, the emergence of variants of concern during chronic infection might be rare.