Journal
NATURE MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 5, Issue 11, Pages 1403-1407Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41564-020-0770-5
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award [206298/Z/17/Z-ARTIC]
- European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [725422-ReservoirDOCS]
- European Commission Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013]
- European Research Council [614725-PATHPHYLODYN]
- UK COVID-19 Genomics Consortium
- Oxford Martin School
- Australian Research Council [FL170100022]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The ongoing pandemic spread of a new human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which is associated with severe pneumonia/disease (COVID-19), has resulted in the generation of tens of thousands of virus genome sequences. The rate of genome generation is unprecedented, yet there is currently no coherent nor accepted scheme for naming the expanding phylogenetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we present a rational and dynamic virus nomenclature that uses a phylogenetic framework to identify those lineages that contribute most to active spread. Our system is made tractable by constraining the number and depth of hierarchical lineage labels and by flagging and delabelling virus lineages that become unobserved and hence are probably inactive. By focusing on active virus lineages and those spreading to new locations, this nomenclature will assist in tracking and understanding the patterns and determinants of the global spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available