The total number and mass of SARS-CoV-2 virions

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Abstract

Knowing the absolute numbers of virions in an infection promotes better understanding of disease dynamics and response of the immune system. Here we use current knowledge on the concentrations of virions in infected individuals to estimate the total number and mass of SARS-CoV-2 virions in an infected person. Although each infected person carries an estimated 1 billion to 100 billion virions during peak infection, their total mass is no more than 0.1 mg. This curiously implies that all SARS-CoV-2 virions currently in all human hosts have a mass of between 100 g and 10 kg. Combining the known mutation rate and our estimate of the number of infectious virions, we quantify the formation rate of genetic variants.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.16.20232009: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.


    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.16.20232009: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    TotalIg Gantibodyl ev els specif icf or SARS-CoV-2spik eprot ein(C IgG) wer emeas ured3weeksfo llowings ym pto mon setsh ow inga concentra tio ninth eser um onthe orderof~10g/mL​(I yer et al. 202 0)​.
    Total IgG
    suggested: None
    Only a fraction of ≈5% of the total anti-spike IgG antibodies has the capacity to neutralize the virus ( f neutralizing ) ​(Rogers et al. 2020)​.
    anti-spike IgG
    suggested: None
    Combining the concentration of neutralizing IgG antibodies with a mean IgG molecular weight ( M W IgG ) of 150 kDa ​(Janeway et al. 2001)​ we can derive the number of ︿ neutralizing antibody molecules in an mL of serum( N neutralizing ): C IgG × f neutralizing × IgG 10−5 [ g mL ] × 5% [ neutralizing ]× IgG ︿ 1 M W IgG × N Avogadro 1 [ mol ] 150,000 g molecules × 6 × 1023 [ molecules ] = 3 × 1012 [ neutralizing ].
    neutralizing IgG
    suggested: (GeneTex Cat# GTX10971, RRID:AB_378045)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.


    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.