Syllabus: GS-III, Subject: Science and Technology, Topic: Bio technology, Issue: Genome India Project
Context: The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) announced the completion of the ‘10,000 genome’ project.
Genome Sequencing:
- the process of determining the complete order of the chemical building blocks, called bases, that make up an organism’s DNA.
- The bases are Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine.
The Genome India Project:
- Aim: To collect 10,000 genetic samples from citizens across India.
- to build a reference database of whole genome sequences.
- Led by Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Centre For Cellular And Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
- Benefits:
- gain deeper insight into India’s population diversity,
- find genetic predispositions to disease,
- develop personalised and customisable drugs,
- improve gene therapy etc.
Human Genome Project:
international research effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains.
