GENOME SURVEY

Subject: Science & tech

Context: To better understand the genomic variation in the strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the State, the Kerala government has tied up with the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) for a survey.

Concept:

• Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine that make up an organism’s DNA.
• This could demonstrate the utility in identifying apparently unconnected outbreaks and evidence to design or validate policy interventions—like strict quarantine of foreign travellers.

• Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) allows parallel Genome sequencing, resulting in the generation of Giga bases of data in a short amount of time.

Benefits :

• Using NGS an entire human genome can be sequenced within a single day.
• The genome sequencing (NGS) machines when used optimally and with appropriate modifications, can substantially detect the possible presence of the virus even in several instances where the traditional RT-PCR tests miss out on them.
• The genome method can read a bigger chunk of the virus genome and thereby provide more certainty, unlike the RT-PCR test that identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus by exploring only specific sections of the virus.