Scientists say Europeans, S Asians have different genetic correlations

THE SCIENTISTS ANALYSED THE ROLE OF THIS DNA SEGMENT IN DETERMINING COVID-19 OUTCOMES AMONG SOUTH ASIANS

VARANASI: A team of scientists that includes Banaras Hindu University (BHU) experts has concluded that Europeans and South Asians have different genetic correlations with Covid-19 outcomes.

The team includes Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics and chief scientist at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and Prof Gyaneshwer Chaubey of the department of zoology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it is still unclear why some people experience more severe symptoms and adverse outcomes than others. An earlier research done on the European population suggested variations in a specific DNA segment strongly associated with severe Covid-19 infection and hospitalisation. This DNA segment is present in 50% of South Asians as compared to 16% of Europeans, according to experts.

The scientists analysed the role of this DNA segment in determining Covid-19 outcomes among the South Asian population. They concluded that the genetic variants responsible for Covid-19 severity among Europeans may not play a role in Covid-19 susceptibility among South Asians. This finding was published in the journal Scientific Reports, said Prof Chaubey. He added that the study was conducted between April and December 2020.

“In this study, we have compared infection and case fatality rates with South Asian genomic data over three different timelines during the pandemic. We have especially looked into a large number of populations from India and Bangladesh,” said Dr Thangaraj.

“Our result reiterates the unique genetic origin of South Asian populations. A dedicated genome-wide association study on South Asian Covid-19 patients is the need of the hour for us in the sub-continent,” said Prajjval Pratap Singh, the first author of this study.

“Apart from host genomics, we should also focus which variants are likely to escape the host defence of those already vaccinated,” said Prof Anil K Tripathi, director of the Institute of Science at BHU.

Other participants of this study include Anshika Srivastava and Nargis Khanam from BHU, Varanasi; Dr Abhishek Pathak and Prof Royana Singh, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU; Dr Gazi Sultana from Dhaka University, Bangladesh; Dr Pankaj Shrivastava, Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar, MP; and Dr Prashanth Suravanjhala, Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur.