Science Daily December 3, 2020
Researchers in Finland have developed a novel bioinformatics pipeline called Lazypipe for identifying viruses in host-associated or environmental samples. Previously they published two examples of novel and potentially zoonotic viral agents that were identified with Lazypipe from wild animals that can serve as vectors. A new ebolavirus was identified from feces and organ samples of Mops condylurus bats in Kenya, and a new tick-borne pathogen Alongshan virus from ticks in Northeast Europe. These examples demonstrate the efficacy of Lazypipe data analysis for NGS libraries with very different DNA/RNA backgrounds, ranging from mammalian tissues to pooled and crushed arthropods. In early April, they tested libraries of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples with Lazypipe and confirmed that the pipeline detected SARS-CoV-2 in 9 out of 10 libraries with default settings and without SARS-CoV-2 reference genome. Lazypipe could play a crucial role in prediction of emerging infectious diseases…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE