HOW WILL GENETIC MAPPING OF INDIANS HELP?

In the global genomics landscape, how well is the ethnolinguistic and sociocultural diversity of India captured? Which are the groups that have been included? Who have been left out? Which language groups did the study cover? How will it help the government devise health policy?

- 

The story so far: The preliminary findings of the GenomelIndia project, which attempted to study whole genomes of 10,000 healthy and unrelated Indians from 83 population groups, were published in the journal Nature Genetics on April 8. After excluding two populations, the published findings are based on the genetic information of 9,772 individuals — 4,696 male participants and 5,076 female participants.

Genome study: 180 million genetic variants found in 9,772 individuals

When was it launched?

The 10,000-human genome study was launched in January 2020 with funding from the Department of Biotechnology. Blood samples and associated phenotype data such as weight, height, hip circumference, waist circumference and blood pressure were collected from 20,000 individuals representing 83 population groups — 30 tribal and 53 non-tribal populations — spread across India. Of the 20,000 individuals, DNA samples from 10,074 individuals were subjected to whole genome sequencing, but later two populations were excluded.

The GenomelIndia project is a collaborative effort of 20 institutions. The genome sequencing was carried out by the Centre for Brain Research at I[Sc Bengaluru, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology in Delhi, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kolkata, and Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre in Gandhinagar.

How were diverse samples collected?