The Indian Genome Variation Consortium, a public-private partnership
that networks six Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
labs and some private software firms, has completed
<http://www.ias.ac.in/jgenet/Vol87No1/temp/jgen08-00038.pdf> genetic
mapping of one of the world's most ethnically diverse populations, the
Indians.
With this, the consortium has succeeded in covering the genomic
variation in India in terms of population and genomic coverage. The
study included 32 large populations, with 10 million or more people in
each, and 23 isolated tribal populations, representing a vast ethnic,
linguistic and geographical diversity.
The data that the consortium has gathered provides interesting insights
into disease susceptibility of these populations and their response to
drugs. This will now allow researchers to understand the genetic
predisposition of ethnic groups to diseases.
The genetic map will also give pharma companies a headway in predictive
medicine and targeted drugs. A great step ahead in Indian genomic
studies, indeed!
