GenMark ePlex RP2 Panel predicted to detect known SARS-CoV-2 variants currently in circulation based on in silico analysis

GenMark Diagnostics has announced that its ePlex Respiratory Pathogen Panel 2 (RP2) is predicted to detect known SARS-CoV-2 variants currently in circulation.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, GenMark is routinely monitoring publicly available databases for new SARS-CoV-2 strains and variants and conducting bioinformatic analyses to determine if the mutations present in the viral genome would impact detection of these variants on the ePlex RP2 Panel. The recently identified SARS-CoV-2 variant strains include multiple mutations with the majority occurring in the spike protein, or S gene region and additional mutations found in the nucleoprotein region, or N gene.

The ePlex RP2 Panel targets two unique regions of the N gene; the currently identified N gene mutations for the variants listed above are found outside of the sequence region targeted by the SARS-CoV-2 assays on the ePlex RP2 Panel and therefore the following variant strains currently in circulation are predicted to be detected based on the in silico analysis: B.1.1.7 (UK), B.1.351 (South Africa), P.1 (Brazil), COH.20G/677H and COH.20G/501Y (Ohio, USA) and B.1.429 (California, USA).

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