Heliyon (Jul 2024)

Bioinformatics and molecular biology tools for diagnosis, prevention, treatment and prognosis of COVID-19

  • Débora Dummer Meira,
  • Aléxia Stefani Siqueira Zetum,
  • Matheus Correia Casotti,
  • Danielle Ribeiro Campos da Silva,
  • Bruno Cancian de Araújo,
  • Creuza Rachel Vicente,
  • Daniel de Almeida Duque,
  • Bianca Paulino Campanharo,
  • Fernanda Mariano Garcia,
  • Camilly Victória Campanharo,
  • Carla Carvalho Aguiar,
  • Carolina de Aquino Lapa,
  • Flávio dos Santos Alvarenga,
  • Henrique Perini Rosa,
  • Luiza Poppe Merigueti,
  • Marllon Cindra Sant’Ana,
  • Clara W.T. Koh,
  • Raquel Furlani Rocon Braga,
  • Rahna Gonçalves Coutinho da Cruz,
  • Rhana Evangelista Salazar,
  • Vinícius do Prado Ventorim,
  • Gabriel Mendonça Santana,
  • Thomas Erik Santos Louro,
  • Luana Santos Louro,
  • Flavia Imbroisi Valle Errera,
  • Flavia de Paula,
  • Lorena Souza Castro Altoé,
  • Lyvia Neves Rebello Alves,
  • Raquel Silva dos Reis Trabach,
  • Eldamária de Vargas Wolfgramm dos Santos,
  • Elizeu Fagundes de Carvalho,
  • Kuan Rong Chan,
  • Iúri Drumond Louro

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 14
p. e34393

Abstract

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Since December 2019, a new form of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has emerged worldwide, caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This disease was called COVID-19 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Symptoms can vary from a common cold to severe pneumonia, hypoxemia, respiratory distress, and death. During this period of world stress, the medical and scientific community were able to acquire information and generate scientific data at unprecedented speed, to better understand the disease and facilitate vaccines and therapeutics development. Notably, bioinformatics tools were instrumental in decoding the viral genome and identifying critical targets for COVID-19 diagnosis and therapeutics. Through the integration of omics data, bioinformatics has also improved our understanding of disease pathogenesis and virus-host interactions, facilitating the development of targeted treatments and vaccines. Furthermore, molecular biology techniques have accelerated the design of sensitive diagnostic tests and the characterization of immune responses, paving the way for precision medicine approaches in treating COVID-19. Our analysis highlights the indispensable contributions of bioinformatics and molecular biology to the global effort against COVID-19. In this review, we aim to revise the COVID-19 features, diagnostic, prevention, treatment options, and how molecular biology, modern bioinformatic tools, and collaborations have helped combat this pandemic. An integrative literature review was performed, searching articles on several sites, including PUBMED and Google Scholar indexed in referenced databases, prioritizing articles from the last 3 years. The lessons learned from this COVID-19 pandemic will place the world in a much better position to respond to future pandemics.

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