Coronavirus Vaccine Latest News: Indian Scientists Prepare Web-Based COVID Predictor to Predict Sequence of Viruses Online
The Union Ministry of Science & Technology stated that a group of scientists in India is working on genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 around the world to identify genetic variability in virus and human. The research team is also working to identify potential molecular targets so that the best possible answer to combat the COVID-19 virus can be found.
New Delhi, September 13: The Union Ministry of Science & Technology on Sunday stated that a group of scientists in India is working on genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) around the world to identify genetic variability in virus and human. The research team is also working to identify potential molecular targets so that the best possible answer to combat the COVID-19 virus can be found.
Informing about the update, the Union Ministry said, "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." Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Resumes in UK After Brief Pause Over Volunteer's Illness.
The Ministry said that a team of Department of Computer Science and Engineering of National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research in Kolkata have developed a web-based COVID-19 Predictor to predict the sequence of viruses online based on machine learning. The team, led by Dr Indrajit Saha, which has analysed 566 Indian SARS-CoV-2 genomes to find the genetic variability in terms of point mutation and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP).
The team of experts 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 SNP. The scientists are working to spot the potential target proteins of the virus and human host based on Protein-Protein Interactions.
Apart from this, the Union Ministry said, "They also carried out integrating the knowledge of genetic variability, recognise candidates of synthetic vaccine based on conserved genomic regions that are highly immunogenic and antigenic and detect the virus miRNAs that are also involved in regulating human mRNA."
Adding on, the ministry said that the scientists have computed the mutation similarity in sequences of different countries. In the results, the USA, England, and India are the top three countries having the geometric mean, 3.27 per cent, 3.59 per cent, and 5.39 per cent, respectively. A web application for searching the mutation points in SARS-CoV-2 genomes globally and country-wise has also been developed by scientists. Currently, the scientists are working more towards protein-protein interactions, epitopes discovery, and virus miRNA prediction, the ministry said.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2020 04:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).