Genome India Project
What is a genome
- The genome is a cell’s whole set of DNA instructions.
- A genome contains all of the information required for a person to develop and function.
Genome India Project
- Genome India Project is a a Centre-backed initiative to sequence 10,000 Indian human genomes and create a database
- About 20 institutions across India are involved in the project though the analysis and coordination is done out of the Centre for Brain Research, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
- The project was initiated by Department of Biotechnology
Need for such project
- The Indian population of 1.3 billion consists of over 4,600 population groups, and many of them are endogamous.
- These factors have contributed to the genetic diversity of the current population.
- Thus, the Indian population harbours distinct variations and often many disease-causing mutations are amplified within some of these groups.
- Therefore, findings from population-based or disease-based human genetics research from other populations of the world cannot be extrapolated to Indians
- Creating a database of Indian genomes means that researchers anywhere can learn about genetic variants that are unique to India’s population groups and use that to customise drugs and therapies.
Other countries with similar initiatives
- The United Kingdom, China, and the United States are among the countries that have programmes to sequence at least 1,00,000 of their genomes.
Why in news
- The Genome India Project is about two-thirds through and will complete sequencing 10,000 Indian genomes by year-end.
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