Yu Hongjie's research group has made progress in the field of genetic monitoring and data sharing of the new coronavirus

Recently, Yu Hongjie's research group from Fudan University has made important progress in the field of genetic monitoring and data sharing of the new coronavirus

The novel coronavirus (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) can mutate under natural selection and immune pressure, and the mutant strains may cause epidemics due to changes in their transmissibility, pathogenicity, and immune escape capabilities.

The genetic data generated from the genetic monitoring network needs to be uploaded to the public platform in time, so that scientists around the world can trace and evaluate the variant strains

To this end, Yu Hongjie's research group conducted a study to construct a series of evaluation indicators by collecting genetic surveillance programs from countries around the world, officially reported variant strain data, and gene sequencing data on public platforms to analyze SARS-CoV-2 The heterogeneity of genetic surveillance, the character and quality of genetic sequencing data, the degree of sharing of genetic data, and the discovery and global dissemination of variants of concern (VOCs)

The results of the study showed that as of October 31, 2021, 38.

Figure 1.

The study further analyzed the characteristics and quality of gene sequencing data, including sequencing platform and technology, sequence quantity, sequencing ratio, sequence turnaround time, and integrity of sequence metadata.

In addition, this study systematically assessed the degree of sharing of VOC sequences across countries and found that 37% of countries shared <50% of their gene sequencing data

Figure 2.

This study quantitatively assessed the heterogeneity of global SARS-CoV-2 genetic surveillance and provided a scientific basis for improving the global genetic surveillance network

Chen Zhiyuan, a 2020 graduate student of Fudan University, is the first author, and Yu Hongjie, a professor at the School of Public Health of Fudan University, a PI from the Department of Infectious Diseases of Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and the Shanghai Institute of Major Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, is the corresponding author