SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP)

Context: In a pathbreaking development, Indian scientists prepare a web-based COVID predictor to predict the sequence of viruses online

A group of scientists in India is working on genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 around the World, including India, to identify genetic variability and potential  molecular targets in virus and human to find the best possible answer to combat the COVID 19 virus.

  • Breaking down the novel coronavirus challenge into many pieces to get to its root and see it from multiple directions.
  • National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research, Kolkata, have developed
  1. a web-based COVID- Predictor to predict the sequence of viruses online on the basis of machine learning and analysed 566 Indian SARSCoV-2 genomes to find the genetic variability in terms of point mutation and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP).

The study being sponsored by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has been published in the Journal called Infection, Genetics, and Evolution.

• They have mainly found that 57 out of 64 SNPs are present in 6 coding regions of Indian SARS-CoV-2 genomes, and all are nonsynonymous in nature.

The scientists are on the track to identify the genetic variability in SARS-CoV-2 genomes around the globe including India, find

  • The number of virus strains using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), spot the potential target proteins of the virus and human host based on Protein-Protein Interactions.
  • They also carried out integrating the knowledge of genetic variability, recognise candidates of synthetic vaccine based on conserved genomic regions that is highly immunogenic and antigenic and detect the virus miRNAs that are also involved in regulating human mRNA.

They have computed the mutation similarity in sequences of different countries. The results show that:

• USA, England, and India are the top three countries having the geometric mean, 3.27%, 3.59%, and 5.39%, respectively, of mutation similarity score with other 72 countries.

The scientists have also developed a web application for searching the mutation points in SARS-CoV-2 genomes globally and country wise. Besides, they are now working more towards protein-protein interactions, epitopes discovery, and virus miRNA prediction.

About: Messenger RNA (mRNA)

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene. The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made. During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

About: MicroRNA
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs of ∼22nt in length which are involved in the regulation of gene expression at the posttranscriptional level by degrading their target mRNAs and/or inhibiting their translation.

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