Wastewater testing for human DNA to identify at-risk communities.

 

There have been many genome-wide association studies regarding COVID-19. Pairo-Castineira et al. details 8 human variants that are associated either with infectivity or serious disease.

Nebula Genomics can produce a report based on an individual's DNA test with respect to this publication. In the summary table, it can be seen that this individual is heterozygous for the two most significant variants in this study (rs73064425_T and rs143334143_A).























Together with the other relevant variants, this individual has a polygenic score of 98% related to severity of COVID-19. There is some debate relating to infectivity or severity regarding the controls that were used but the general picture of this and several other studies is that our genome plays a role in susceptibility to this disease.

Wastewater testing for COVID-19 variants has been a critical part of our COVID-19 response but it does not identify genetically at-risk communities. Life Magnetics uses graphene nano coated magnetic beads to extract and concentrate viral RNA from wastewater for genomic sequencing.

If this technology could be adapted to concentrate human DNA such as leucine zipper transcription factor like 1 (LZTFL1_T) from sewerage, then we could identify at-risk communities and implement viral sampling and education strategies.

Would this be an appropriate response in a pandemic?


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