{"id":74953,"date":"2020-12-31T18:09:33","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T12:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=74953"},"modified":"2021-03-05T12:38:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T07:08:22","slug":"more-genome-sequencing-to-study-the-spread-of-the-variants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/more-genome-sequencing-to-study-the-spread-of-the-variants\/","title":{"rendered":"More genome sequencing to study the spread of the variants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Synopsis-<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">There is need for more genome sequencing from samples from all over the world in order to come up with effective approaches to control and prevent COVID-19 infections.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Background-<\/strong><\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">A new variant\u202fof the pandemic SARS-CoV-2\u202fcoronavirus\u202fis spreading rapidly in Britain and prompting high levels of concern<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">.\u202f<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">Six samples of the recent U.K. returnees have been found to be positive with a variant of\u202fSARS- CoV-2 virus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">From 25 Nov-23 Dec, about 33,000 passengers landed at various Indian airports from the U.K. So far, only 114 have been found positive and\u202fsamples have been sent to 10 INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) labs for genome sequencing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Thus, only through detailed epidemiological studies combined with genome sequencing data can we confirm the presence and spread of the variant in India.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>What are the findings related to new stain of coronavirus and will it cause concern in India?<\/strong><\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The genomic analysis undertaken by the COVID-19 Genomics U.K. Consortium found that-<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>First. The new variant of coronavirus is named \u201cVUI 202012\/01\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">and is defined by a set of\u202f23\u202fchanges or mutations.\u202fAmong the 23\u202fmutations, the two of which are particularly worrisome\u202fand specifically N501Y makes is more transmissible.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">It includes a genetic mutation in the \u201cspike\u201d protein that can lead to an easy and immediate spread of the virus, making it deadlier. This new variant has 17 mutations that affect the shape of the virus.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Second,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u00a0is about 70% more transmissible-\u202fThe variant has the potential to increase the number of people a person can infect\u202fby over 0.4<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">However,<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u202f<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">it might not be able to spread wildly in India as a sizeable percentage of people are already infected.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Read more\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u2013\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/mutated-covid-19-strain-of-uk-spreads-faster\/\"><span data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">Mutation in Coronavirus<\/span><\/a><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Why it is important to undertake more genome sequencing of the virus?<\/strong><\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The genome sequencing study would determine if the COVID patients are carrying the existing strain of SARS-CoV-2 or the mutant strain.<\/span>\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>First, to understand the evolving nature of the virus<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u2013<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">So far, we are doing very less frequent genomic sequencing\u202fcompared to western nations. For instance, in England, around 10 percent of the infected virus samples are sequenced to study the nature of the virus.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Second, to find an immune escape variant\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">of the SARS-CoV-2, [which means a mutation in the virus that allows it to evade the immune system]\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">One of the immune escape variants found in genomes from India,\u00a0known as N440K variant\u00a0\u2014 was found to be in 2.1 percent of the gene sequences in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Third, The N501Y mutation\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">can arise independently here in India. Hence more genome sequencing and genomic epidemiology is needed.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Steps were taken by the Indian Government regarding this-\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">The genomic surveillance consortium (INSACOG) has been recommended for laboratory and epidemiological surveillance of circulating strains of the SARS-CoV-2 in India.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\">Under this initiative,\u00a05 percent of the positive cases will\u00a0be tested for Whole Genome Sequencing, from all the States and UT.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Read Also :\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/current-affairs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Current affairs for upsc<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>What is the way forward?<\/strong><\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Genome sequencing is very much important of the higher percentage of the samples to understand the evolving nature of the virus.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis-\u00a0There is need for more genome sequencing from samples from all over the world in order to come up with effective approaches to control and prevent COVID-19 infections.\u202f\u00a0 Background-\u00a0 A new variant\u202fof the pandemic SARS-CoV-2\u202fcoronavirus\u202fis spreading rapidly in Britain and prompting high levels of concern.\u202f Six samples of the recent U.K. returnees have been found&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/more-genome-sequencing-to-study-the-spread-of-the-variants\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">More genome sequencing to study the spread of the variants<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":74960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1315,1289,1456],"class_list":["post-74953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-st_1","tag-soc_0","tag-soc_01","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/More-genome-sequencing-to-study-the-spread-of-the-variants.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704633313},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}