Case Study

Impact of Covid-19 on Research, Growth and Development of Molecular Cytogenetics in Domestic Animal Studies

Team Pashudhan Praharee

November 12, 2022

216

Impact of Covid-19 on Research, Growth and Development of Molecular Cytogenetics in Domestic Animal Studies

Nidhi Sukhija^1, Kanaka K K^1*, Anoop Anand Malik², Chethan Raj³, Vidhyasagar⁴

¹ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India

²ICAR-National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi -110012, India

³ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar

⁴Veterinary College Bidar, Karnataka

*Corresponding author mail ID: kkokay07@gmail.com

Animal Molecular Cytogenetics

It encompasses all aspects of chromosome biology and the application of molecular cytogenetic techniques in all areas of biology and medicine, including a) Chromosome abnormalities, b) Structural and functional organization of the chromosome and nucleus C) Genome variation , Expression, Evolution. Classical cytogenetics dealt with banding patterns while molecular cytogenetics is more oriented towards base pairs in chromosomes. It also seeks to study intra- and inter- chromosomal interactions, along with TADs (Topologically associating domains). Molecular Cytogenetics involves all aspects of chromosome biology, such as structural and functional organization of the chromosome and nucleus, chromosomal variation and abnormalities, and the applications of chromosome biology in medicine and tumor genetics. With high diagnostic reports as well as decreasing costs per sample, whole genome sequencing (WGS) is emerging as a first-tier test for many referrals to diagnostic genome laboratories in high-income countries (HICs, as defined by the World Bank). However, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) karyotyping will remain a prominent genetic testing method as understanding the etiology of chromosomal rearrangements is essential for appropriate follow-up and for ascertaining recurrence risks. Covid-19 assumed the status of a pandemic by spreading across 210 countries (WHO, 2020). The major concerns at animal:human interface are multiple clinical presentations, animal spill-over, cross-species jumping, zoonotic concerns and emergence of novel variants, which can be further grouped as variants of concern and variants of interest. Delayed publications were obvious in view of covid situation, due to difficulty in meeting the timelines associated with peer review process.

Key players in the molecular cytogenetics market

Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland), b) Danaher Corporation (US), c) Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), d) Abbott Laboratories (US), e) Agilent Technologies (US)
PerkinElmer, Inc. (US), g) Illumina, Inc. (US), h) Bio-Rad Laboratories (US), i) Oxford Gene Technology (UK), j) Applied Spectral Imaging (US)

Impact of COVID-19 on animal molecular cytogenetics

Molecular Cytogenetics market is a dynamic industry with significant opportunities for business development. But the current COVID-19 conditions caused a) Uncertainty in forecasts, b) Shifts in short term planning goals, c) Focus on concerns related to near term cost management, d) Long term complexity management (https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5263247/molecular-cytogenetics-market-research). Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and India are severely affected due to COVID-19 outbreak. This challenge would be frightening, especially in developing countries across the globe, as it may lead to reducing imports due to disruptions in global trade. Realized Impacts: a) Impact in 2020-21: collection of samples in the field and the work within the laboratories have been delayed for a few months. b) Near future: As the demand for funds for human health has increased, this will lead to shortage of research funds for livestock (David, X., 2021).

RT-PCR is assumed as the gold standard test for Covid detection. The point of care (POC) test include RAPID RT-PCR and antigen detection gives low accuracy and sensitivity. In such cases, Turbo-FISH serves as the test of choice. On similar grounds, Corona-FISH is employed to explore the subcellular localization and kinetics of RNA viruses in infected cells, it is important to directly and precisely visualize the viral RNA in single cells isolated from African green monkey, human cell lines, COVID-19 patient samples, and human tissues. Corona-FISH offers faster and cost-effective diagnosis.

Major cons due to Covid

Lockdowns
Restrictions on activities/facilities/equipments
Closure of laboratories
Cancellation of scientific and technical conferences
Delayed or uncertain graduation schedules and career prospects for trainees and early career scientists
Non-COVID clinical trial operations were halted/delayed
Decline in productivity:
mandated remote work
Shift work
More down time due to cleaning
Greater need for PPE
Reconfigured labs
Need to reestablish cell lines, cell cultures and animal models

Major pros due to Covid

FDA approval of Remdesivir
Development of several candidate vaccines
Diagnostic testing platforms

Will 2020-21 be a blank year in animal molecular genetics research? Will the gap increase between human and animal molecular genetics?

Today, there is an urgent need to better understand the genetics of local species and local breeds in order to overcome the challenges of food security, climate change, and biodiversity for the next decades.

Unrealized impacts:

Social impact on research teams: Research activities are based on teamwork.
One of the key factors of a successful scientific team is the capability to brainstorm together and to exchange different ideas, with different backgrounds and cultural approaches—all this needs social interactions, which is affected by COVID-19.
Decrease in creativity and a lack of innovative process or solution (Gandini and Hiemstra, 2021).

Impact of COVID-19 on Animal Molecular Genetics Routine Work

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted field activities deeply, at least in the first few months of every waves: a) Interruption of farm visits for nonessential activities, such as milk recording, type evaluation, bull dams, and bull sire’s recruitment, b) 2020-21: less phenotypic data collected : this will have impact on genetic evaluation and c) Many laboratories dedicated to animal molecular research, were switching to COVID-19 testing due to increased demand for PCR-based tests during the pandemic (Marchant-Forde et al. 2020, David, X., 2021).

Opportunities created by COVID-19

As Jean Monnet said perfectly: “Human accept change only in necessity and they only see necessity in crisis.”
So we can expect changes in lot many aspects and some evolution in our practices, habits, and methodologies will speed up dramatically.
The future of farms will be to be well equipped to collect on daily basis and automatically records on performance traits, on health, on behaviour.
As a proof, in the first half of 2020, there was an increase in monitoring equipment sales all over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
An acceleration of the ongoing breakthroughs within our Animal Genetics and Breeding world.

Conclusion

Due to the financial burden faced by the different countries, subsidies for the animal world, either breeders association or research, adversely affected and sometimes even completely stop in order to fund other more important challenges regarding human health and social security.
The use of new technologies, such as livestock monitoring/recording, online interactive platform etc., will be speed up molecular cytogenetics research in animals in near future.

References