QUIZ
Launch ↗ Variant Ventures
Viruses copy their genetic material imperfectly, so each round of replication can throw up variants with slightly different traits. Host immunity then decides which of those variants spread and which die out. This simulation follows an outbreak on a pig farm as mutations alter how far a virus spreads, the shape of its surface antigen and how long infections last.
Launch InteractiveTopics covered
- Mutation and viral variants
- Antigens and antibodies
- Selection pressure on pathogens
- Host specificity and receptors
- Zoonotic spillover to humans
- Genotype to phenotype
- Tracing evolutionary relationships