{"id":14228,"date":"2021-03-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/05-03-2021\/first-project-to-map-genomes-in-the-indian-ocean\/"},"modified":"2021-03-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T00:00:00","slug":"first-project-to-map-genomes-in-the-indian-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-03-2021\/first-project-to-map-genomes-in-the-indian-ocean","title":{"rendered":"First project to map genomes in the Indian Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News &#8211;<\/strong>CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has been commissioned to conduct <strong>genome and proteome mapping (micronutrients)<\/strong> present inside s<strong>ingle-cell organisms in the Indian ocean.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 90-day long expedition will start from the <strong>east coast of India, travelling all the way to the Southern hemisphere up to 30 degrees south, <\/strong>touching upon waters between <strong>Australia Maldives and ending at Goa,<\/strong> covering over <strong>9000 nautical miles.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Scientists expect to go as deep as <strong>six kilometres<\/strong> into the<strong> Indian ocean to collect samples <\/strong>using the <strong>non-metallic system to avoid any biological contamination.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The scientists will use<strong> next-generation sequencing (massively parallel sequencing of DNA <\/strong>fragments) and <strong>Sanger sequencing techniques (single DNA fragments at a time)<\/strong> to <strong>extract genetic information <\/strong>of the organisms they come across.<\/li>\n<li>They will also collect sediments and<strong> use piston and gravity <\/strong>coring techniques in the ocean.<\/li>\n<li>They will use <strong>8000m long Kevlar cable<\/strong> and f<strong>amous McLane pumps<\/strong> to <strong>collect water<\/strong> and <strong>check for particulate matters<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The project will also map the <strong>genetic diversity of organisms, micronutrients<\/strong> and <strong>trace metals in them.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The efforts will be to check the presence of micronutrients such as<strong> Iron, Zinc, Magnesium and trace-metals such as Cadmium, Cobalt, Copper and so on. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Objectives <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To <strong>identify and characterise <\/strong>the <strong>genes and proteins<\/strong> in the ocean to understand the <strong>cellular level operations of organisms in the ocean.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It may help in strengthening the country&#8217;s research into <strong>commercial biotechnology applications<\/strong> including<strong> anticancer treatments as well as help understands<\/strong> new <strong>climate change patterns.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Indian Ocean is the third-largest in size and plays a great role in the functioning of climate, regulating atmospheric oxygen.\n<ul>\n<li>These studies will allow us to <strong>understand cellular biochemistry <\/strong>and <strong>the response of the ocean to climate change<\/strong>, <strong>nutrient stress, increasing pollution.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Exploration of the ocean at a genetic level will result in new insights into taxonomy to optimise conservation effort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:624px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:468.0pt\">\n<p><strong>What is a Genome?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Every organism\u2019s genetic code is contained in its <strong>Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA), <\/strong>the building blocks of life.<\/li>\n<li>Genome refers to an organism\u2019s <strong>complete set of DNA, which includes all its genes<\/strong> and mapping t<strong>hese genes simply means finding out the location of these genes <\/strong>in a chromosome.<\/li>\n<li>Each genome contains all of the i<strong>nformation needed to build and maintain that organism.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Genome Mapping &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genome mapping, therefore, essentially means <strong>figuring out the location of a specific gene<\/strong> on a<strong> particular region of the chromosome<\/strong> and also<strong> determining the location of and relative distances between other genes on that chromosome.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Genome mapping enables scientists to<strong> gather evidence if a disease transmitted<\/strong> from the parent to <strong>the child is linked to one or more genes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Furthermore, mapping also helps in determining the particular <strong>chromosome which contains that gene and the location of that gene in the chromosome.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Human Genome Project (HGP) &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It was an international programme that led to the<strong> decoding of the entire human genom<\/strong>e.<\/li>\n<li>It has been described as \u201c<strong>one of the great feats of exploration in history. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It Began on October 1, 1990, and completed in April 2003.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0HGP gave us the ability <strong>to read nature\u2019s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/264524617388190100_image.png\" style=\"height:214px; margin-left:20px; margin-right:20px; width:348px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The \u2018Genome India\u2019 Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This is being spearheaded by the Centre for Brain Research at Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science as the nodal point of about 20 institutions, each doing its bit in collecting samples, doing the computations, and then the research.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Its aim is to ultimately <strong>build a grid of the Indian \u201creference genome<\/strong>\u201d, to fully understand<strong> the type and nature of diseases<\/strong> and <strong>traits that comprise the diverse Indian population. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>For example, if the Northeast sees a tendency towards a <strong>specific disease<\/strong>, <strong>interventions can be made in the region<\/strong>, <strong>assisting public health<\/strong>,<strong> which makes it easier to battle the illness.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/first-project-to-map-genomes-in-indian-ocean\/articleshow\/81302675.cms#:~:text=CSIR%2DNational%20Institute%20of%20Oceanography,organisms%20in%20the%20Indian%20ocean.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TOI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News &#8211;CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has been commissioned to conduct genome and proteome mapping (micronutrients) present inside single-cell organisms in the Indian ocean. Key Points The 90-day long expedition will start from the east coast of India, travelling all the way to the Southern hemisphere up to 30 degrees south, touching upon waters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/5654942current-affairs (1).jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}