The Genome India Project, a state-backed initiative has begun the work to sequence 10,000 Indian human genomes and create a database.
At a conference organized by the Association of Biotech-Led Enterprises (ABLE), an industry group, Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, said, “We have sequenced close to 7,000 genomes and 3,000 of these are already available for public access by researchers. We expect that the target of 10,000 genomes will be sequenced by the end of the year.”
Twenty institutions across India are involved in the project, though the analysis and coordination is done at the Center for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
The Indian population, that will soon reach 1.4 billion, consists of over 4,600 population groups, and many of them are endogamous, contributing to the genetic diversity of the current population. The Indian population exhibits distinct variations and often many disease-causing mutations are amplified within some of these groups. Findings from population-based or disease-based human genetics research from other populations of the world cannot be extrapolated to Indians, noted the IISc.
The database of Indian genomes will help researchers anywhere to learn about genetic variants that are unique to India’s population groups and use that knowledge to customize drugs and therapies.
