PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hebert, Paul DN
AU  - Prosser, Sean WJ
AU  - Ivanova, Natalia V
AU  - Zakharov, Evgeny V
AU  - Ratnasingham, Sujeevan
TI  - Massive Multiplexing Can Deliver a $1 Test for COVID-19
AID  - 10.1101/2020.05.05.079400
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.05.05.079400
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/08/2020.05.05.079400.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/08/2020.05.05.079400.full
AB  - The severe acute respiratory syndrome virus, SARS-CoV-2 (hereafter COVID-19), rapidly achieved global pandemic status, provoking large-scale screening programs in many nations. Their activation makes it imperative to identify methods that can deliver a diagnostic result at low cost. This paper describes an approach which employs sequence variation in the gene coding for its envelope protein as the basis for a scalable, inexpensive test for COVID-19. It achieves this by coupling a simple RNA extraction protocol with low-volume RT-PCR, followed by E-Gel screening and sequencing on high-throughput platforms to analyze 10,000 samples in a run. Slight modifications to the protocol could support screening programs for other known viruses and for viral discovery. Just as the $1,000 genome is transforming medicine, a $1 diagnostic test for viral and bacterial pathogens would represent a major advance for public health.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.