Application of Omics and Bioinformatics Technologies in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The medical biotechnology community has undertaken significant endeavors to gain a comprehensive understanding of SARS-CoV-2’s biology and pathogenesis mechanisms. Omics approaches and technologies have been widely employed in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. Since the onset of the virus outbreak, researchers have demonstrated how recent omics and bioinformatics technological advancements have contributed to the diagnosis, vaccine development, treatment, and control of disease transmission. Studies conducted since the outbreak have been collected and summarized, with a focus on bioinformatics approaches and their contribution to controlling this pandemic. Developments and advanced omics technology in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic have been analyzed. The multi-omics technology, which offers various strategies in identifying potential diagnostics, therapeutics, studies of variants of concern, and drug repurposing approaches, has been assessed. Pandemic response has seen the application of multi-omics and pan-genomics approaches, including genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technology, host-pathogen interactions, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in various research areas. Additionally, bioinformatics and mathematical modeling have played a significant role in disease control. The use of smart technologies to control virus transmission and predict patients’ health conditions and treatment outcomes has also been crucial. Transcriptome analysis has emerged as a major application, contributing to the generation of new knowledge on viral sequences and intracellular signaling pathways that regulate viral infection and pathogenesis mechanisms. The sequencing of the virus has paved the way for the use of omics technologies and an integrative technique in combating the pandemic. In general, the advancement of omics technology during this pandemic has been fascinating and has contributed a significant role to the science of health biotechnology in general and omics and bioinformatics in particular. Keywords: bioinformatics, coronavirus, COVID-19, omics, SARS COV-2