Han Ximin 1824295095@qq.com SHENZHEN-BASED MGI Tech Co. Ltd. (MGI) is playing an instrumental role in the global battle against the Omicron variant of COVID-19 with the application of its DNBSEQ and ATOPlex technologies to detect, monitor, provide surveillance and trace the new variant in more than 70 countries including South Africa, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Canada and Australia. In light of the increasing dominance of the Omicron variant in South Africa, researchers across the country are turning to MGI to ramp up their screening efforts and manage the spread of COVID-19 through sequencing of wastewater samples. Wastewater surveillance is key to pandemic management as it can rapidly identify COVID-19 hotspots and circulating variants, which can in turn inform a rapid public health response, according to a release by the company last week. With MGI’s ATOPlex technology, DNBSEQ-G50 benchtop genome sequencer and MGISP-100, scientists from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) were able to detect fragments of the Omicron variant in 11 out of 12 wastewater samples collected across Cape Town, including at Cape Town International Airport. The SAMRC was the first report of the Omicron variant being detected in the City of Cape Town’s wastewater system and the detection coincides with an increase in cases in the city. “At the South African Medical Research Council, our team used the ATOPlex technology and the DNBSEQ-G50 to sequence SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater samples collected from wastewater treatment plants across South Africa. This technology was instrumental in confirming the presence of Omicron in a sample collected at Cape Town International Airport before Omicron was first announced,” said Prof. Craig Kinnear, Human Geneticist and Platform Manager of the SAMRC Genomics Center. ATOPlex is a two-step multiplex PCR method that amplifies all viral fragments in one tube providing target enrichment, amplification, and library construction in one simple process. It is relatively cheap, available, and fast in comparison to other PCR methods. It is an ultra-short amplicon-based method (106-199bp) which can capture more of the shorter fragments directly from a clinical sample or environmental sample and is more likely to obtain a complete viral genome sequence. Moreover, ATOPlex introduces a DNA spike-in control in the two-step multiplex PCR process. The DNA spike-in control was co-amplified with SARS-CoV-2 coupled to a count-based analysis to accurately detect SARS-CoV-2, quantify its viral load, and measure the cross-contamination. MGI ATOPlex technology provides powerful instrument support for effective whole-genome sequencing, surveillance, and monitoring of new COVID-19 variants such as Omicron, as well as personalized and customized panels for targeted surveillance of pathogenic micro-organisms. In addition to the detection and surveillance of Omicron in South Africa, MGI has supported other nations to detect the first cases of the variant in their country. Its ATOPlex technology was integral in supporting the National Pandemic Center (NPC) at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden to discover its first case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. In Saudi Arabia, MGI supplied its ATOPlex technology and DNBSEQ-G400 rapid sequencing platform to support the kingdom’s Ministry of Health, which was responsible for detecting the first case of the Omicron variant from a citizen coming from North Africa. | 