Coronavirus: The Complete Genome of the Coronavirus Sequenced in Hungary for the first Time

The Virological Research Group of the Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, lead by Prof. Dr. Ferenc Jakab, and the Bioinformatics Research Group lead by Dr. Attila Gyenesei managed to define the complete genome sequence of the novel Corvonavirus for the first time in Hungary. This is an important milestone for further Hungarian and international research – emphasized Prof. Dr. Ferenc Jakab, virologist. “I have the honour to lead the Coronavirus Research Task Force, the aim of which is to gain further knowledge of the virus: the examination of its pathomechanism and propagation mechanism, exploration of the possible steps for prevention, as well as the development of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines in the future. This current result also proves, that collaborations like ours can bring about the success that we were looking forward to.” – added the professor.

The Pécs Virological Research Group, lead by Dr. Gábor Kemenesi, processed the sample from an infected Hungarian patient's pharyngeal exudate according to the international protocols as a first step. Then the members of Genomics and Bioinformatics laboratory of the Centre, Péter Urbán and Gábor Endre Tóth defined the genome of the virus applying next-generation sequencing technologies. Dr. Róbert Herczeg, member of the Bioinformatics research group conducted the processing and analysis of the large amount of data.

The close cooperation of the research groups and the developed procedure makes it possible to perform the complete workflow in Hungary as fast as possible even in the case of further identified positive samples in the Szentágothai Research Centre of the University of Pécs.