The SARS-CoV-2 virus has an opportunity to change every time it replicates in a host. Though not all mutations affect the ability of the virus to spread or cause disease, scientists sequence and search for the changes that increase its infectivity. These are uploaded on an open-access genomic database of the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
…Such sequence information is useful for computational tools that design therapeutic interventions based on small molecules, says Rakesh K. Mishra, a geneticist and director at the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society in Bengaluru.
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