[genome-announce] Vaccines track available for the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Browser

[Jairo Navarro Gonzalez]

Hello everyone,

We are happy to announce the release of the Vaccines track for the UCSC SARS-CoV-2 Genome Browser. This track shows the alignment of three different mRNA vaccine sequences to the coronavirus genome:

1. The BioNTech/Pfizer BNT-162b2 sequence as published by the World Health Organization (WHO)
2. The reconstructed BioNTech/Pfizer BNT-162b2 RNA as sequenced by the Andrew Fire lab, Stanford University School of Medicine
3. The Moderna mRNA-1273 sequence as sequenced by the Andrew Fire lab, Stanford University School of Medicine

The protein encoded by the three sequences has two AA substitutions compared to the SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein. Variations: S:K986P and S:V987P in the vaccine sequence. See also: The tiny tweak behind COVID-19 vaccines. More information about this track can be found on the description page.

We want to thank the Andrew Fire lab, Stanford University School of Medicine for providing the sequencing data of these vaccines. We also want to thank Hiram Clawson and Jairo Navarro for the creation and release of this track.

All the best,

UCSC Genome Browser team