An Explorative Tool for Mutation Tracking in the Spike Glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2

Interactive Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction provides useful support for inexperienced user and experts as well. On one hand visualization provides an informative overview of data and on the other hand interaction encourages users for exploration within it. We chose the challenge of a specialized/expert scenario to build a pipeline that provides interactive visualizations to encourage users for further exploration. We chose the complex task of a phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes for mutation tracking. The proposed pipeline hides the mathematical details while providing complex information visually and intuitively. In our proof-of-concept we analyzed four variants of concern and identified mutations in the spike glycoprotein with more than 70% precision and 77% recall in reference to the reports of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.