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India Genome Project

India Genome Project

Launched in 2020, 10,000 sequences from healthy individuals were collected in the first phase of the project. The second phase seeks to expand the database to one million sequences, including genetic information of people with specific diseases.

The second phase would also cover many more linguistic and ethnic groups. In the first phase, individuals from 99 population groups were included. But as many as 4,635 different population groups have been identified in India.

AFTER COMPLETING India’s baseline map by sequencing 10,000 genomes, the Genome India project is set to move into its second phase during which samples of individuals with specific diseases would also be sequenced.

Genome India is a government-backed project to collect and catalogue the genetic variations specific to Indian populations. India-specific genetic information is not very well reflected in global human genome databases. Such information is valuable for a number of reasons, including diagnosis and treatment of several gene-related diseases.

A comparison of the healthy and diseased genome can help researchers identify targets for developing treatments and diagnostic tests. It is the first step towards personalised treatment and medicine, which is supposed to be the future of healthcare.

The diseases that would most likely be included in the list would be different types of cancers, chronic conditions such as diabetes, and various neurological or neurodegenerative diseases. Rare diseases that are found in Indian populations are also likely to be included in the list of diseases to be studied for the next phase of Genome India project.

Besides understanding the susceptibility of people to specific diseases, which can lead to personalised and precision medicine, genome mapping has several other benefits — tracing ancestry and evolutionary history of people, advancing scientific research, and preparing for Covid-like pandemics in future.

The next phase would have representation of all the states and UTs, most linguistic and ethnic groups, and rural populations, said Prof Y Narahari from the Indian Institute of Science, one of the lead scientists on this project. More than 20 major research institutions are participating in this project.

“This is just the beginning,” Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, said. “The data from the first phase has set the standards, and it makes us feel very confident to expand the dataset to one million genomes of various kinds.”

One million genomes would put India among a small group of countries that have managed to sequence a large number of genomes to understand genetic variation within their populations.

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