2023 Volume 72 Issue 2 Pages 248-255
The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made us recognize the importance of developing a laboratory system for emerging infectious diseases in medical institutions. In particular, next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genome is an indispensable tool for monitoring the global COVID-19 pandemic. In Japan, the PCR testing system for SARS-CoV-2 has enabled early diagnosis and rapid infection control owing to the spread of rapid and easy-to-operate automated PCR devices. However, the number of genome analytical tests performed in a day is relatively smaller than those in other developed countries, suggesting that active epidemiological investigation has not been sufficiently conducted. To control outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases including COVID-19, rapid identification and analysis of each virus variant through genome analysis are required to determine the occurrence and frequency of mutations as early as possible. In this study, we developed a protocol for whole-genome analysis training of medical technicians, which can be practically applied in daily clinical practice using the Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencer and is characterized by its high performance, low cost, and simplicity, to establish a whole-genome analysis approach that can be implemented in clinical laboratories. Although there are still issues to be addressed, such as the availability of experimental materials and the training of medical technicians by genome analysis experts, the incorporation of sequencing technology into the daily work in clinical laboratories is expected to contribute to not only the epidemiological analysis of emerging infectious diseases but also its further applications in clinical microbiology in the future, such as bacterial identification and genetic analysis of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Sequencing technology is expected to be further applied to clinical microbiology in the future.
