Research reveals novel transcription signals enhance SARS-CoV-2 fitness by blocking antiviral responses, implicating evolutionary changes.
Non-spike changes driving SARS-CoV-2 fitness remain undercharacterized. Two PLOS Biology papers show that evolutionary N gene changes create a transcription-regulating sequence producing a truncated N protein that enhances fitness by blocking antiviral responses.
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Sola et al. (2026) studied this question.
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