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Indian Scientists Working On Cracking The Genomic Sequences Of COVID-19 Virus To Combat The Viral Disease
DNA - representative image (Source: @TheFarmTraveler/Twitter)
A group of Indian scientists are working on genomic sequences of COVID-19 virus around the world, including India, to identify and understand the genomic variability and potential molecular targets in the virus and humans to best combat the virus, reports Economic Times.
Making the development public, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shared that the study is sponsored by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) which is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
For the study, scientists led by Dr Indrajit Saha have developed a web-based COVID-Predictor to predict the sequence of viruses online based on machine learning. The Predictor has analysed 566 Indian COVID-19 virus genomes to find the genetic variability in terms of point mutation and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP).
The study has found that 57 out of 66 SNPs are present in six coding regions of the Indian COVID-19 virus genomes, and all of those are nonsynonymous. The scientists extended the study to more than 10,000 sequences around the world and found 20620, 18997 and 3514 unique mutation points globally, including India, excluding India, and only for India respectively.
Dr Saha is an Assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research which is based in Kolkata. The study of the scientists led by him has been published in a journal called "Infection, Genetics and Evolution."
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