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

The shifting sands of ‘gain-of-function’ research

The mystery of COVID’s origins has reignited a contentious debate about potentially risky studies and the fuzzy terminology that describes them.
  1. Amber Dance

    1. Amber Dance is a freelance science journalist in the Los Angeles area.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Conceptual illustration showing a virus being edited.

Illustration by Kasia Bojanowska

In Greek mythology, the Chimaera was a fire-breathing monster, a horrifying mishmash of lion, goat and snake that laid waste to the countryside. In 2015, virologists led by Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill reported the creation of their own chimaera. They took a version of the coronavirus responsible for the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the early 2000s — now known as SARS-CoV — and adorned it with surface proteins from a different coronavirus taken from Chinese horseshoe bats. In the laboratory, this particular mash-up was able to break into human cells and also make mice ill1. This chimaera came with a message: other coronaviruses have the potential to spark a human pandemic. In just a few years’ time, that warning would prove prescient, as a distant cousin of SARS-CoV has now killed more than 4.9 million people worldwide.

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 598, 554-557 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02903-x

References

  1. Menachery, V. D. et al. Nature Med. 21, 1508–1513 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Imai, M. et al. Nature 486, 420–428 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Herfst, S. et al. Science 336, 1534–1541 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Hu, B. et al. PLoS Pathog. 13, e1006698 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kuo, M. M.-C., Saimi, Y. & Kung, C. EMBO J. 22, 4049–4058 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Want, J. et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 82, 71–83 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. Recommendations for the Evaluation and Oversight of Proposed Gain-of-Function Research (2016).

  8. Cao, C. J. Law Biosci. 8, lsab020 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Li, K. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, E3119–E3128 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Channappanavar, R. et al. J. Clin. Invest. 129, 3625–3639 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lee, J. S. & Shin, E.-C. Nature Rev. Immunol. 20, 585–586 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Li, K. et al. mBio 11, e00554-20 (2020).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. An, D. et al. Sci. Adv. 7, eabi5246 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Sheahan, T. P. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 9, eeal3653 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Martinez, D. R. et al. Science 373, 991–998 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Two Junior Research Group Leaders (f/d/m) for Photonics

    Friedrich Schiller University is a traditional University with a strong research profile based in the heart of Germany. As a University covering al...

    07743, Jena (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • Reporter, Nature

    Reporter, Nature Location: London, UK - Hybrid office and remote working Closing date: 13th May 2024   Nature, the world’s most authoritative scien...

    London (Greater) (GB)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Vice-Chancellor and President

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong Vice-Chancellor and President The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is conducting a worldwide search for t...

    Hong Kong (HK)

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • ERC-funded PhD and Postdoc Positions in Comparative Genomics

    We are looking for two PhD and/or PostDoc candidates for the 6 years ERC-funded grant project "BATPROTECT" in Frankfurt a.M., Germany

    Frankfurt am Main, Hessen (DE)

    Senckenberg Society for Nature Research

  • Silver Endowed Chair (Developmental Psychiatry)(Open Rank Faculty)

    The Robert A. Silver Endowed Chair in Developmental Neurobiology leads an internationally recognized, competitively funded research program...

    Tampa, Florida

    University of South Florida - Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences

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