CSIR completes first ever human genome decoding in India
08 Dec 2009
Scientists at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, a unit of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), have achieved the first-ever human genome sequencing in India.
The CSIR scientist have sequenced the genome of an anonymous healthy Indian citizen, an official release said, without naming the individual.
This feat has been achieved by a team of very young scientists, said union minister of state for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
The completion of the first human genome sequence puts India in the league of select few countries such as the United States, China, Canada, United Kingdom and Korea, which have demonstrated the capability to sequence and assemble complete human genomes.
CSIR could achieve this by adopting new technologies and by effectively integrating complex computational tools with high throughput analytical capabilities, the release said.
The human genome has 3.1 billion base pairs. The team at IGIB generated over 51 gigabases of data using next generation sequencing technology, resulting in over 13x coverage of the human genome.