Biochemical composition, transmission and diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a life-threatening respiratory infection caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel human coronavirus. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by World Health Organization in March 2020 for its continuous and rapid spread worldwide. Rapidly emerging COVID-19 epicenters and mutants of concerns have created mammoth chaos in healthcare sectors across the globe. With over 185 million infections and approximately 4 million deaths globally, COVID-19 continues its unchecked spread despite all mitigation measures. Until effective and affordable antiretroviral drugs are made available and the population at large is vaccinated, timely diagnosis of the infection and adoption of COVID-appropriate behavior remains major tool available to curtail the still escalating COVID-19 pandemic. This review provides an updated overview of various techniques of COVID-19 testing in human samples and also discusses, in brief, the biochemical composition and mode of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2. Technological advancement in various molecular, serological and immunological techniques including mainly the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), CRISPR, lateral flow assays, and immunosensors are reviewed.

Immuno-chromatic probe based lateral flow assay for point-of-care detection of Japanese encephalitis virus NS1 protein biomarker in clinical samples using a smartphone-based approach

“…8 Since there is no fool-proof vaccine available against JEV, only palliative therapy can be provided, and the conventional diagnostic techniques such as whole virus isolation, plaque reduction neutralisation test, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) 9 are time-consuming and laborious, portable diagnostic techniques resulting in rapid detection of even trace quantities of viral biomarkers 10,11 present are essential. 12,13 While there have been reports of highly sensitive sensors [14][15][16][17] developed for JEV antigen (Ag) detection, most of these are electrochemical-based and expensive as well as difficult to fabricate, require skilled handling, and most importantly, are not portable point-ofcare (PoC) devices. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] To overcome these limitations of existing sensors, Ag targeting immunochromatographic lateral flow assays (LFAs) are being developed for rapid bedside detection of various infectious diseases.…”

High throughput Bioluminescent assay to characterize and monitor the activity of SARS-CoV-2 Methyltransferases

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted September 13, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.12.505486 doi: bioRxiv preprint replicate efficiently (11)(12)(13). In the case of coronaviruses, there are two main enzymes that methylate viral mRNA, these include nsp14 and nsp16.…”

“…These proteins are generated using Cap-dependent translation and frameshifts (11). The viral RNA is targeted by the host immune system for which the virus acquired defense by mimicking canonical capping mechanism to cap the 5' ends of the RNA molecules similar in function to the host capping enzymes, thus escaping the innate cellular immune response and replicate efficiently (11)(12)(13). In the case of coronaviruses, there are two main enzymes that methylate viral mRNA, these include nsp14 and nsp16.…”

A Recent Update on Advanced Molecular Diagnostic Techniques for COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview

“…To overcome certain limitations posed by conventional techniques, the development of different types of biosensors/biochips have begun to replace the conventional methods ( 23 ). Various bio-recognition elements such as aptamers, nucleic acids, peptides, antigens (Ags), and antibodies (Abs), can be immobilized on the sensors for highly specific detection of various biomarkers ( 24 ).…”