Health Ministry asks States to hike genome sequencing for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

Subject :Science and Tech

Due to an increase in coronavirus cases reported in China, the United States and South Korea, India’s Health Ministry has asked States to bolster genome sequencing of coronavirus samples.
According to media reports lifting of curbs in China, has resulted in a spurt in infections.
In response, the health ministry has asked states to gear up the whole-genome sequencing of positive case samples to track variants through Indian Sars Cov2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.

About Genome:

A genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes.
Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism.
In humans, a copy of the entire genome—more than 3 billion DNA base pairs—is contained in all cells that have a nucleus.

Genome Sequencing:

Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA.
The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters.
In more simple terms, Sequencing a gene is like reading a book one letter at a time to look for any spelling mistakes.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS)

All organisms (bacteria, vegetable, and mammal) have a unique genetic code, or genome, that is composed of nucleotide bases (A, T, C, and G).
If you know the sequence of the bases in an organism, you have identified its unique DNA fingerprint, or pattern. Determining the order of bases is called sequencing.
Whole genome sequencing is a laboratory procedure that determines the order of bases in the genome of an organism in one process.
WGS of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been demonstrated to help differentiate hospital-acquired infection from community-acquired coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection.

How does genome sequencing for Covid work?

It involves obtaining positive COVID-19 samples and generating a complete RNA sequence of that virus from that sample.
The complete viral genome (~30000 nucleotides) is extracted from the sample and sequenced, allowing us to read the genome of the virus.

Applications:

Indian Sars Cov2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.

INSACOG was established in December 2020 as a joint initiative of the Union Health Ministry of Health and Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
It aims to expand the whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, across India with the aim of understanding how the virus spreads and evolves.
It functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology with the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).