{"id":10962,"date":"2021-12-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/31-12-2021\/genome-sequencing\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T18:37:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T13:07:06","slug":"genome-sequencing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/31-12-2021\/genome-sequencing","title":{"rendered":"Genome sequencing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Context\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Latest genome sequencing in Mumbai finds one-third of samples positive for Omicron.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>What Is Genome Sequencing?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A genome is a complete <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>set of genetic instructions <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">which are present in an organism in its DNA. Sequencing is the sequence of occurrences of the four nucleotide bases i.e., <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters. The whole genome <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>can&#8217;t be sequenced all at once<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> because available methods of DNA sequencing can only handle short stretches of DNA at a time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While human genomes are made of <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, a virus genome can be made of either <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>DNA or RNA (Ribonucleic acid)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. Coronavirus is made of RNA. Every organism has a unique genome sequence.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Genome sequencing is a technique that <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>reads and interprets genetic information<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> found within DNA or RNA.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Approaches for Genome Sequencing<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There are <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>two approaches<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> to the task of cutting up the genome and putting it back together again.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;clone-by-clone&#8221; approach <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">involves first breaking the genome up into relatively large chunks, <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>called clones<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, about 150,000 base pairs (bp) long. Scientists use genome mapping techniques to figure out where in the genome each clone belongs.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Next, they cut each clone into smaller, overlapping pieces of the right size for sequencing\u2014about 500 BP each. Finally, they sequence the pieces and use the overlaps to reconstruct the sequence of the whole clone.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;whole-genome shotgun&#8221; method <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">involves breaking the genome up into small pieces, sequencing the pieces, and reassembling the pieces into the full genome sequence.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Significance of Genome Sequencing<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Understands the Virus:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> The purpose of genome sequencing is to understand the role of certain mutations in increasing the virus\u2019s infectivity. Some mutations explain immune escape or the virus\u2019s ability to evade antibodies which have consequences for vaccines.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Studying Efficacy:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> It helps in studying whether the vaccines developed so far are effective against such mutant strains of the virus and if can prevent re\u00adinfection and transmission.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Tracing Mutations: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sequencing of the genomes of viral strains is important from a &#8220;know-thy-enemy&#8221; point of view as it becomes easier to trace the mutations. Scientists can find mutations much more easily and quickly.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Developing Vaccines: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Knowledge generated through vital research assists in developing diagnostics and potential therapeutics and vaccines now and for the potential diseases in the future.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Vital Information:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> important information and findings can be derived from the Genome sequencing of those who tested positive for COVID.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Challenges in Genome Sequencing in India<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Very High target:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> The aim was to sequence at least <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>5%<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> of the samples, the minimum required to keep track of the virus variants. This has so far been only around 1%, primarily due to insufficient reagents and tools necessary to scale up the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Low Capacity: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The ten laboratories together can sequence about 30,000 samples a month, or 1,000 a day, six times less than what is needed to meet the target.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Fund crunch: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Funding is being delayed repeatedly. INSACOG asked for Rs 100 crore, but it was not until March that any funding arrived and it received Rs 70 crore.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Sample Collection: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The healthcare system is already overstretched and this is one additional task for them to sort and package samples and RNA preparations regularly for shipping in a cold chain to sequencing centres along with recording extensive metadata to make sequence information useful.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Dependence on Imports:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> The process of genome sequencing slowed down due to the Atma Nirbhar scheme which banned imports of goods worth less than Rs 200 crore to promote local procurement. Even after the exemption, some special plastics inadvertently remained within the import ban affecting the process.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>International aspect: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The poor progress in genome sequencing also affects India\u2019s image abroad, as all countries are required to upload data into a common global repository, called the \u2018Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza data\u2019, or GISAID.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Way Forward<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Number of laboratories<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> should be increased to get the research going at the speed required. The Union Health Minister has announced the opening of 17 more laboratories for the same.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The data collected from genome sequencing of the virus will further aid in <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>studying linkages between the variants and epidemiological waves<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> (super-spreader events, outbreaks) of the virus.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; border: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 624px;\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color: #ffe599; vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Comparison of DNA and RNA<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As both, DNA and RNA are used to <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>store genetic information<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> but there are clear differences between them. The following table summarizes the key points:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; border: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Comparison<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>DNA<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>RNA<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Function<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Long-term storage of genetic information; transmission of genetic information to make other cells and new organisms.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Used to transfer the genetic code from the nucleus to the ribosomes to make proteins. RNA is used to transmit genetic information in some organisms\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Structural Features<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">B-form double helix. DNA is a double-stranded molecule consisting of a long chain of nucleotides.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A-form helix. RNA usually is a single-strand helix consisting of shorter chains of nucleotides.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Composition of Bases and Sugars<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">deoxyribose sugar-phosphate backbone<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine bases<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ribose sugar<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">phosphate backbone<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil bases<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Propagation<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">DNA is self-replicating<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">RNA is synthesized from DNA on an as-needed basis.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Base Pairing<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">AT (adenine-thymine)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GC (guanine-cytosine)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">AU (adenine-uracil)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GC (guanine-cytosine)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Ultraviolet Damage<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">DNA is susceptible to UV damage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Compared with DNA, RNA is relatively resistant to UV damage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source: <\/span><\/span><\/span><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/health\/explained-why-is-genome-sequencing-crucial-to-track-sars-cov-2-variants\/article34623707.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif;\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\"><u>TH<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context\u00a0 Latest genome sequencing in Mumbai finds one-third of samples positive for Omicron. What Is Genome Sequencing? A genome is a complete set of genetic instructions which are present in an organism in its DNA. Sequencing is the sequence of occurrences of the four nucleotide bases i.e., adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[26,33],"class_list":["post-10962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-3","tag-science-technology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1819685Screenshot_6.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54052,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10962\/revisions\/54052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}