Consortium overview | |
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Formed | December 30, 2020 |
Type | Consortium under Government of India |
Status | Active |
Parent department | Department of Biotechnology |
Website | dbtindia.gov.in/insacog |
INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics [1] or Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium [2] ) is the forum set up under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by the Government of India on 30 December 2020, to study and monitor genome sequencing and virus variation of circulating strains of COVID-19 in India. [1] [2] [3] Initially it was tasked to study the virus variant Lineage B.1.1.7 earlier found in United Kingdom in December 2020.
INSACOG works as a consortium of 38 [4] national laboratories for genome sequencing located in different parts of India. [5] All these 10 laboratories are required to share 5% of positive samples to INSACOG for further research and studies. A National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) nodal unit maintain a database of all samples of the new variants. Two national genomic sequencing database centers are appointed 1) National Institute of Biomedical Genomics and 2) CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. [6] In its early research INSACOG identefied virus variant Lineage B.1.617 referred to as a double mutation variant. [7] [8]
GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source established in 2008 that provides access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 10, 2020, the first whole-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 were made available on GISAID, which enabled global responses to the pandemic, including the development of the first vaccines and diagnostic tests to detect SARS-CoV-2. The database has become the world's largest repository for SARS-CoV-2 sequences. GISAID facilitates genomic epidemiology and real-time surveillance to monitor the emergence of new COVID-19 viral strains across the planet.
CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India.
The National Centre for Disease Control is an institute under the Indian Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It was established in July 1963 for research in epidemiology and control of communicable diseases and to reorganize the activities of the Malaria Institute of India. It has nine branches at Alwar, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, Calicut, Coonoor, Jagdalpur, Patna, Rajahmundry and Varanasi to advise the respective state governments on public health. The headquarters are in Sham Nath Marg, in New Delhi.
Dr. Vinod Scaria FRSB, FRSPH is an Indian biologist, medical researcher pioneering in Precision Medicine and Clinical Genomics in India. He is best known for sequencing the first Indian genome. He was also instrumental in the sequencing of The first Sri Lankan Genome, analysis of the first Malaysian Genome sequencing and analysis of the Wild-type strain of Zebrafish and the IndiGen programme on Genomics for Public Health in India
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a provisional name, 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and has also been called human coronavirus 2019. First identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. SARS‑CoV‑2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that is contagious in humans. As described by the US National Institutes of Health, it is the successor to SARS-CoV-1, the virus that caused the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
Covaxin is an inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology.
The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It is estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2. It was first detected in November 2020 from a sample taken in September in the United Kingdom, and began to spread quickly by mid-December, around the same time as infections surged. This increase is thought to be at least partly because of one or more mutations in the virus' spike protein. The variant is also notable for having more mutations than normally seen.
The Beta variant, (B.1.351), is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. One of several SARS-CoV-2 variants believed to be of particular importance, it was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in October 2020, which was reported by the country's health department on 18 December 2020. Phylogeographic analysis suggests this variant emerged in the Nelson Mandela Bay area in July or August 2020.
The COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) is a group of public health agencies and academic institutions in the United Kingdom created in April 2020 to collect, sequence and analyse genomes of SARS-CoV-2 as part of COVID-19 pandemic response. The consortium comprises the UK's four public health agencies, National Health Service organisations, academic partners and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The consortium is known for first identifying the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in November 2020. As of January 2021, 45% of all SARS-CoV-2 sequences uploaded to the GISAID sequencing database originated from COG-UK.
There are many variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Some are believed, or have been stated, to be of particular importance due to their potential for increased transmissibility, increased virulence, or reduced effectiveness of vaccines against them. These variants contribute to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Gamma variant (P.1) is one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been named lineage P.1 and has 17 amino acid substitutions, ten of which in its spike protein, including these three designated to be of particular concern: N501Y, E484K and K417T. This variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan, on 6 January 2021 in four people who had arrived in Tokyo having visited Amazonas, Brazil, four days earlier. It was subsequently declared to be in circulation in Brazil. Under the simplified naming scheme proposed by the World Health Organization, P.1 has been labeled Gamma variant, and is currently considered a variant of concern.
Jemma Louise Geoghegan is a Scottish-born evolutionary virologist, based at the University of Otago, New Zealand, who specialises in researching emerging infectious diseases and the use of metagenomics to trace the evolution of viruses. As a leader in several government-funded research projects, Geoghegan became the public face of genomic sequencing during New Zealand's response to COVID-19. Her research has contributed to the discussion about the likely cause of COVID-19 and the challenges around predicting pandemics. She was a recipient of the Young Tall Poppy Award in 2017 and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2020.
Iota variant, also known as lineage B.1.526, is one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in New York City in November 2020. The variant has appeared with two notable mutations: the E484K spike mutation, which may help the virus evade antibodies, and the S477N mutation, which may help the virus bind more tightly to human cells.
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO) indicated in June 2021 that the Delta variant was becoming the dominant strain globally.
Theta variant, also known as lineage P.3, is one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The variant was first identified in the Philippines on February 18, 2021, when two mutations of concern were detected in Central Visayas. It was detected in Japan on March 12, 2021, when a traveler from the Philippines arrived at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.
Kappa variant is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It is one of the three sublineages of Pango lineage B.1.617. The SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant is also known as lineage B.1.617.1 and was first detected in India in December 2020. By the end of March 2021, the Kappa sub-variant accounted for more than half of the sequences being submitted from India. On 1 April 2021, it was designated a Variant Under Investigation (VUI-21APR-01) by Public Health England.
Lineage B.1.617 is a lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It first came to international attention in late March 2021 after the newly established INSACOG performed genome sequencing on positive samples throughout various Indian states. Analysis of samples from Maharashtra had revealed that compared to December 2020, there was an increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations. Lineage B.1.617 later came to be dubbed a double mutant by news media.
Lambda variant, also known as lineage C.37, is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in Peru in August 2020. On 14 June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) named it Lambda variant and designated it as a variant of interest. It has spread to at least 30 countries around the world and is known to be more resistant to neutralizing antibodies compared to other strains. There is evidence that suggests the Lambda variant is both more infectious and resistant to vaccines than the Alpha and/or Gamma variant.
Zeta variant, also known as lineage P.2, is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in the state of Rio de Janeiro; it harbors the E484K mutation, but not the N501Y and K417T mutations. It evolved independently in Rio de Janeiro without being directly related to the Gamma variant from Manaus.
The Mu variant, also known as lineage B.1.621 or VUI-21JUL-1, is one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in Colombia in January 2021 and was designated by the WHO as a variant of interest on August 30, 2021. The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to the current vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to better understand it. Outbreaks of the Mu variant were reported in South America and Europe. The B.1.621 lineage has a sublineage, labeled B.1.621.1 under the PANGO nomenclature, which has already been detected in more than 20 countries worldwide.
Though these mutations have individually been found in several other coronavirus variants, the presence of both these mutations together have been first found in some coronavirus genomes from India.