You are hired at a laboratory and are asked to design a PCR (RT-PCR) assay to rapidly test people for COVID 19 infection. You need to make sure that the original COVID19 strain and the two new variants (Delta and Omicron) can be detected and distinguished by your assay. The protocol for the assay is already established, you just have to identify the right primers to identify all three strains shown below. COVID19 is a single-stranded RNA virus, however, your colleague took the original and the two new strains and generated large amounts of double-stranded cDNA for you to develop the detection assay. Classify variants based on the kind of mutations they have acquired. Designing a PCR (RT-PCR) Assay to Rapidly Test People for COVID 19 Infection

Designing and testing PCRs (RT-PCR) to quickly test people for COVID19 Infection 

Global health crises have been caused by the COVID 19 epidemic. A quick detection method is crucial to stop its spread. A PCR (RTPCR) test must be developed to detect the COVID19 original strain as well as the newer variants, Delta and Omicron. The protocol is in place and it’s now up to you to identify the correct primers for each of the three strains. To identify the correct primers it’s important to classify variants according to the type of mutations acquired. This is usually a missense, point, or nonsense mutation. (Larson and al., 2019). After that, the PCR primers need to be targeted at the particular mutations within the variants while being specifically for COVID19 (Tsai et.al., 2020). Primers must target, for example, Omicron or Delta variants of the spike protein gene. However, they should also be specific to COVID19 viruses. Cont….