Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

Where did Omicron come from? Three key theories

The highly transmissible variant emerged with a host of unusual mutations. Now scientists are trying to work out how it evolved.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Soweto residents walk past a mural educating people about the dangers of the coronavirus and mask wearing

People in Johannesburg, South Africa, near where cases of Omicron were first identified. Credit: Kim Ludbrook/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Little more than two months after it was first spotted in South Africa, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has spread around the world faster than any previous versions. Scientists have tracked it in more than 120 countries, but remain puzzled by a key question: where did Omicron come from?

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 602, 26-28 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00215-2

References

  1. Martin, D. P. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.14.476382 (2022).

  2. Viana, R. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04411-y (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Peacock, T. P. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.31.474653 (2022).

  4. Cele, S. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.08.21267417 (2021).

  5. Choi, B. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 383, 2291–2293 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Bate, N. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.23.473975 (2021).

  7. Cameroni, E. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.12.472269 (2021).

  8. Wei, C. et al. J. Genet. Genom. 48, 1111–1121 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links