Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Context
Metagenomics – Genome-sequencing and bioinformatic analysis technology
Advantages
- quickly identify the virus.
- can be deployed directly without any a priori knowledge of the infectious agent.
- Track emerging pathogens in an unbiased and high-throughput manner (‘High-throughput’ – sequencing large quantities of DNA at the same time)
- Can be used to devise an early response strategy
- Aids to surveil known and unknown organisms
- Helps undertake risk-based surveillance of key animal species.
GISAID,
- A popular repository on the Internet to submit genome-sequence data from genome surveillance activities.
- India also initiated a national SARS-CoV-2 genome-sequencing and surveillance programme supplemented by several State government and private initiatives.
- A well-organized genomic surveillance programme is necessary to identify the virus strains circulating, as well as monitor the impact of vaccination.
Examples
- Helped in definitive identification of SARS-CoV-2 as the causative agent of COVID-19
- Scientists from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control applied metagenomic sequencing for pathogen surveillance and identified 13 distinct viruses afflicting the individuals.
- Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Cambodia – successfully decoded the full genome sequence of the Cambodian H5N1 virus in under 24 hours.
- 2022 – global mpox virus outbreak – attributed to a super-spreader event – but ‘fizzled’ out – because scientists were able to apply genome-sequencing to understand the origin and spread of the virus.
