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What has happened?
In Nalgonda district of Telangana, Sai Chaitanya, 21, has been waiting for advancement in Indian genetic research. He has Ichthyosis, a condition caused by the mutation of a single gene, which has led to the growth of fish-like scales on his skin. Like him, many others are virtually locked into disease-prone gene pools and yearn for early detection and treatment.
The problem
- Inefficient and expensive screening for genetic diseases: Across India, screening for genetic diseases is a painstaking, expensive, and less-than-efficient process
- No indigenous genetic panels developed by India:This is because the country has not yet developed indigenous genetic panels specific to its native populations but continues to depend on European genetic panels, except for prenatal genetic testing, which is specific to Indian populations
Genetic Panels
- A genetic panel is developed when scientists identify mutant genes that cause diseases in specific populations
- Each panel comprises already identified genes that mutated in patients, causing specific health conditions, say, a type of diabetes
- Once the panel is created, screening any number of individuals for specific diseases becomes cost-effective and efficient
Why European panels prove ineffective?
- The European panels against which Indian DNA is screened mostly prove ineffective because genes that mutate and cause abnormalities are not the same among the two geographical-genetic regions.
- Also, about 60-70% of the mutations found in European population clusters, with reference to a single disease, might not occur among Indian people.
What India needs?
- A pan-Indian, whole-genome sequencing exercise that will determine the genetic types which exist within its geographical boundary
- India should develop a baseline genetic data for each of its social groups.
Research so far
- Genetic research so far has identified four linguistically defined whole population groups in India: Indo-European (North), Dravidian (South), Tibeto-Burmese, and Austroasiatic (Northeast)
- Each of these is further divided into 4,635 identified social groups with a specific genetic make-up
