Asia Pathogenomics (APG)

Localized Pathogen Database

What makes APG unique is its establishment of a local Taiwan pathogen database. Both APGPAS and APGDB, when viewed through the lens of biological diversity, acknowledge that each region, influenced by geographic, climatic, and environmental factors, gives rise to species unique to that area. The same holds true for microorganisms, which, due to these factors, exhibit varying prevalence and derive unique species in different regions.
Taiwan, being an island nation, is home to microorganisms with distinct genetic traits shaped by evolutionary processes. Therefore, relying solely on international pathogen databases cannot meet the demands for comparing and analyzing Taiwan-specific pathogens, leading to potential inaccuracies in the results. APG recognizes this characteristic and has established a proprietary local Taiwan pathogen database to ensure more accurate and relevant pathogen identification.

20,000+

Data Sources and Construction Methods

The construction of APGPAS and APGDB relies on data sourced from authoritative global gene databases, such as NCBI, PATRIC, EupathDB, and FDA-ARGOS. The data is carefully selected by filtering through microbial species lists and removing any irrelevant or inaccurate information. Additionally, a second level of filtering is applied based on geographical relevance, focusing on species that are linked to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Taiwan region, while excluding microorganisms that do not pose a threat to human health.
As a result, APG has developed a pathogen microbiome database that accurately reflects the local ecological context of Taiwan. Currently, the Asia Genomics pathogen database includes more than 20,000 cross-species pathogen genes, comprising over 17,800 bacterial species, 3,000 fungal species, 5,500 viral species, and 700 parasitic species.

21%

Increase in Detection Rate

As mentioned earlier, this testing service focuses on analyzing microbial genes, and human-related genes need to be excluded before analysis. To achieve this, a comparison with a human host gene database is necessary to remove any human-related sequences. However, APG identified that the human host gene databases used by various countries predominantly consist of Caucasian genetic data, which results in significant noise when compared to Asian, particularly Taiwanese, genetic data. This noise can negatively impact subsequent analysis. To address this, Asia Genomics specifically selects and uses human genetic data relevant to the Taiwanese population to enhance detection accuracy.

Furthermore, APG has collaborated with major medical societies and over ten medical centers in Taiwan to conduct clinical trials on local infectious pathogen gene sequencing. This effort helps accumulate a vast amount of data and optimize the established pathogen gene database, ensuring that the pathogen gene sequencing test is localized to Taiwan's ecological context. This enhances both accuracy and detection rates.

Recent studies comparing the APGDB built by APG with current high-sensitivity PCR techniques or other tests using generic databases (without localization) have shown that for certain pathogens, such as Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP), the detection rate of the APGDB test can increase by 19-21%, resulting in approximately a 20% improvement in detection rates.