No abstract

Rigorous testing is the way forward to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we show that the currently used and most reliable RT-PCR based SARS-CoV-2 procedure can be further simplified to make it faster, safer, and economical by eliminating the RNA isolation step. The modified method is not only fast and convenient but also at par with the traditional method in terms of accuracy, and therefore, can be used for mass screening. Our method takes about half the time and is cheaper by about 40% compared to the currently used method. We also provide a variant of the new method that increases the efficiency of detection by about 30% compared to the existing procedure. Taken together, we demonstrate a more effective and reliable method of SARS-CoV-2 detection.

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is having a devastating effect on human lives. Individuals who are symptomatic/asymptomatic or have recovered are reported to have/will have serious health complications in the future, which is going to be huge economic burden globally. Given the wide-spread transmission of SARS-CoV-2 it is almost impossible to test each and every individual for the same and isolate them. Recent reports have shown that sewage can be used as a holistic approach to estimate the epidemiology of the virus. Here we have estimated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the city of Hyderabad, India which is populated with nearly 10 million people. The sewage samples were collected from all the major sewage treatment plants (STPs) and were processed for detecting the viral genome using the standard RT-PCR method. Based on the average viral particle shedding per individual, the total number of individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 (in a window of 35 days) is about 6.6% of the population, which clearly indicates the rate of community transmission and asymptomatic carriers is higher than the number of reported cases. It is important to note here that the samples collected from the inlet of STPs were positive for SARS-CoV-2, while the outlets were negative indicating the efficient treatment of sewage at STPs. These studies are going to be essential to manage the pandemic better and also to assess the effectiveness of control measure.

Since COVID-19 outbreak, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) studies as surveillance system is becoming an emerging interest due to its functional advantage as a tool for early warning signal and to catalyze effective disease management strategies based on the community diagnosis. An attempt was made in this study to define and establish a methodological approach for conducting WBE studies in the framework of identifying/selection of surveillance sites, standardizing sampling policy, designing sampling protocols to improve sensitivity, adopting safety protocol, and interpreting the data. Data from hourly sampling indicated a peak in the viral RNA during the morning hours (6–9 am) when the all the domestic activities are maximum. The daily sampling and processing revealed the dynamic nature of infection spread among the population. The two sampling methods viz. grab, and composite showed a good correlation. Overall, this study establishes a structured protocol for performing WBE studies that could provide useful insights on the spread of the pandemic at a given point of time. Moreover, this framework could be extrapolated to monitor several other clinically relevant diseases. Following these guidelines, it is possible to achieve measurable and reliable SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater infrastructure and therefore, provides a methodological basis for the establishment of a national surveillance system.

The plant immune system has evolved to resist attack by pathogens and pests. However, successful phytopathogens deliver effector proteins into plant cells where they hijack the host cellular machinery to suppress the plant immune responses and promote infection. This manipulation of the host cellular pathways is done by the pathogen using various enzymatic activities, protein- DNA or protein- protein interactions. Rice is one the major economically important crops and its yield is affected by several pathogens and pests. In this review, we summarize the various effectors at the plant- pathogen/ pest interface for the major pathogens and pests of rice, specifically, on the mode of action and target genes of the effector proteins. We then compare this across the major rice pathogens and pests in a bid to understand probable conserved pathways which are under attack from pathogens and pests in rice. This analysis highlights conserved patterns of effector action, as well as unique host pathways targeted by the pathogens and pests.