Thursday, 28 March 2024, 6:30 PM
Site: SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics E-learning Portal
Course: SARS-CoV-2 : Studying a new virus (2021_SCOV2)
Glossary: Glossary
B

Baltimore classification

Grouping of viruses into families depending on their type of genome.

C

COVID-19

Disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. 'CO' stands for corona, 'VI' for virus, and 'D' for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as '2019 novel coronavirus' or '2019-nCoV.'

E

Epidemic

A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.

F

FASTA

Text-based format for storing a biological sequence starting with a single-line description, followed by lines of either nucleotide or amino acid sequences.

FASTQ

Text-based format for storing both a biological sequence (usually nucleotide sequence) and its corresponding quality scores.

G

Genome

The genetic material of an organism.

Glycan

The carbohydrate portion of a glycoconjugate, such as a glycoprotein, glycolipid, or a proteoglycan. Glycans are also referred to as carbohydrates, polysaccharides or sugar moieties.

Glycobiology

The study of the structure, function and biology of glycans.

Glycoprotein

Protein which contain glycans covalently attached to amino acid side-chains.

H

Haplotype

A group of genes within an organism that was inherited together from a single parent.

P

pandemic

A disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals.

phylogenetic

The study of the evolutionary relationships among biological entities (e.g., populations, species, genes).

S

SARS-CoV-2

SARS coronavirus 2, where SARS refers to severe acute respiratory syndrome.

SNV

Single nucleotide variation. A DNA sequence variation that occurs when a single nucleotide (adenine, thymine, cytosine, or guanine) in the genome sequence is altered.

V

viral tropism

The ability of a virus to productively infect a particular cell (cellular tropism), tissue (tissue tropism) or host species (host tropism).

virology

The study of viruses.