SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A genetic, epidemiological, and evolutionary perspective

Manuela Sironi; Seyed E Hasnain; Benjamin Rosenthal; Tung Phan; Fabio Luciani; Marie-Anne Shaw; M Anice Sallum; Marzieh Ezzaty Mirhashemi; Serge Morand; Fernando González-Candelas; Editors of Infection, Genetics and Evolution

doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104384

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A genetic, epidemiological, and evolutionary perspective

Infect Genet Evol. 2020 Oct:84:104384. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104384. Epub 2020 May 29.

Affiliations

¹ Bioinformatics Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. MEDEA, Bosisio Parini (LC), Italy. Electronic address: manu.sir@gmail.com.
² JH Institute of Molecular Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, Tughlakabad, New Delhi, India. Electronic address: seyedhasnain@gmail.com.
³ Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, USA. Electronic address: benjamin.rosenthal@ars.usda.gov.
⁴ Division of Clinical Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Electronic address: phantg@upmc.edu.
⁵ University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: luciani@unsw.edu.anu.
⁶ Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom. Electronic address: genmas@leeds.ac.uk.
⁷ Departamento de Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: masallum@usp.br.
⁸ University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655-0112, USA. Electronic address: Marzieh.Mirhashemi@umassmed.edu.
⁹ Institute of Evolution Science of Montpellier, Case Courier 064, F-34095 Montpellier, France. Electronic address: serge.morand@univ-montp2.fr.
¹⁰ Joint Research Unit Infection and Public Health FISABIO-University of Valencia, Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio) and CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: fernando.gonzalez@uv.es.

Abstract

In less than five months, COVID-19 has spread from a small focus in Wuhan, China, to more than 5 million people in almost every country in the world, dominating the concern of most governments and public health systems. The social and political distresses caused by this epidemic will certainly impact our world for a long time to come. Here, we synthesize lessons from a range of scientific perspectives rooted in epidemiology, virology, genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology so as to provide perspective on how this pandemic started, how it is developing, and how best we can stop it.

Keywords: Coevolution; Coronavirus; Host susceptibility; Immune system; Pandemics; Phylodynamics.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2
Animals
Asia / epidemiology
Betacoronavirus / classification
Betacoronavirus / genetics
Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
Biological Coevolution
COVID-19
Chiroptera / virology
Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / transmission*
Disease Outbreaks*
Europe / epidemiology
Eutheria / virology
Gene Expression
Host-Pathogen Interactions / drug effects
Host-Pathogen Interactions / genetics*
Host-Pathogen Interactions / immunology
Humans
Immunity, Innate
North America / epidemiology
Pandemics
Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / genetics*
Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / immunology
Phylogeny
Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission*
SARS-CoV-2
Severity of Illness Index
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / antagonists & inhibitors
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics*
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology

Substances

Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2
Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A
ACE2 protein, human
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2