Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬 Ready for awesome scientific discussion?! Join us on Discord: discord.gg/9VKnTSF
It’s April 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting all of us. But how did COVID-19 evolve in order to cause the COVID-19 pandemic? Let's discuss the evolution of COVID-19!
Viruses undergo evolution. We can see that when we look at flu season (caused by the influenza virus). Coronaviruses (including SARS-Cov-2 which causes COVID-19) mainly evolve through mutation and recombination. These two terms help us to understand the evolution of COVID-19. A mutation is a permanent change in the genome of the virus which mostly happens by chance. Each time SARS-CoV-2 replicates its genome (using a RNA polymerase), there is a slight chance that it generates mutations. Due to the rapid life cycle and the lack of repair mechanisms, mutations might accumulate quickly. Compared to other RNA viruses, however, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have a very low mutation rate, which is important for the evolution of COVID-19.
SARS-Cov-2 most likely became able to infect humans due to recombination. In order for recombination to work, two virus strains need to infect the same cell at the same time. Then, the RNA polymerase assembles a genome which contains information of both viruses. Sars-Cov2, the virus which causes COVID-19, evolved through the recombination of a bat and a pangolin coronavirus. Researchers recently found out through phylogenetic trees that SARS-CoV-2 only acquired a handful of new mutations since the beginning of this pandemic. Last week, it was further reported that SARS-CoV-2 might be able to infect and be transmitted between cats. No risk was found for life stock and dogs. Let's see how COVID-19 further evolves! Stay safe out there!
For your further research:
Kannan, S., et al. "COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus 2019)-recent trends." European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 24.4 (2020): 2006-2011.
Cui, Jie, Fang Li, and Zheng-Li Shi. "Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses." Nature reviews Microbiology 17.3 (2019): 181-192.
Bentley, Kirsten, and David J. Evans. "Mechanisms and consequences of positive-strand RNA virus recombination." Journal of General Virology (2018).
Andersen, Kristian G., et al. "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2." Nature medicine (2020): 1-3.
Forster, Peter, Lucy Forster, Colin Renfrew, and Michael Forster. "Phylogenetic network analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020).
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier. You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Music:
Intro:
Light Sting by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com
Transitions:
Light Thought var 3 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: incompetech.com
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a postgraduate student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬 Ready for awesome scientific discussion?! Join us on Discord: discord.gg/9VKnTSF
It’s April 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting all of us. But how did COVID-19 evolve in order to cause the COVID-19 pandemic? Let's discuss the evolution of COVID-19!
Viruses undergo evolution. We can see that when we look at flu season (caused by the influenza virus). Coronaviruses (including SARS-Cov-2 which causes COVID-19) mainly evolve through mutation and recombination. These two terms help us to understand the evolution of COVID-19. A mutation is a permanent change in the genome of the virus which mostly happens by chance. Each time SARS-CoV-2 replicates its genome (using a RNA polymerase), there is a slight chance that it generates mutations. Due to the rapid life cycle and the lack of repair mechanisms, mutations might accumulate quickly. Compared to other RNA viruses, however, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have a very low mutation rate, which is important for the evolution of COVID-19.
SARS-Cov-2 most likely became able to infect humans due to recombination. In order for recombination to work, two virus strains need to infect the same cell at the same time. Then, the RNA polymerase assembles a genome which contains information of both viruses. Sars-Cov2, the virus which causes COVID-19, evolved through the recombination of a bat and a pangolin coronavirus. Researchers recently found out through phylogenetic trees that SARS-CoV-2 only acquired a handful of new mutations since the beginning of this pandemic. Last week, it was further reported that SARS-CoV-2 might be able to infect and be transmitted between cats. No risk was found for life stock and dogs. Let's see how COVID-19 further evolves! Stay safe out there!
For your further research:
Kannan, S., et al. "COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus 2019)-recent trends." European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 24.4 (2020): 2006-2011.
Cui, Jie, Fang Li, and Zheng-Li Shi. "Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses." Nature reviews Microbiology 17.3 (2019): 181-192.
Bentley, Kirsten, and David J. Evans. "Mechanisms and consequences of positive-strand RNA virus recombination." Journal of General Virology (2018).
Andersen, Kristian G., et al. "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2." Nature medicine (2020): 1-3.
Forster, Peter, Lucy Forster, Colin Renfrew, and Michael Forster. "Phylogenetic network analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020).
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier. You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Music:
Intro:
Light Sting by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com
Transitions:
Light Thought var 3 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: incompetech.com
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a postgraduate student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
