Human Genome Project

• IAS NEXT, Lucknow
• 23, Nov 2022

 Human Genome Project

Scientists had published the map of the human genome for the first time nearly two decades ago which was hailed as a breakthrough.
the genetic sequence was made available in 2003 from the Human Genome Project.
Human Genome Project is an international collaboration between 1990 and 2003, containing information from a region of the human genome known as the euchromatin.
In 2003, scientists got the breakthrough, but it was incomplete as about 8% of the human DNA was left unsequenced.
Recently, for the first time, a large team has accounted for completing the 8% picture of the human genome.
In 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology had approved an ambitious gene-mapping project called the Genome India Project (GIP).

CRISPR-Cas9 for Sickle-Cell Anaemia 

.India approved a 5-year project to develop Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) to cure sickle cell anemia in 2021. Sickle cell anemia is the first disease that is being targeted for CRISPR-based therapy in India. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a gene editing technology, using a special protein called Cas9. CRISPR technology does not involve the introduction of any new gene from the outside

CRISPR-Cas9 technology is often described as ‘Genetic Scissors’. Its mechanism is often compared to the ‘cut-copy-paste’, or ‘find-replace’ functionalities in common computer programes. A bad stretch in the DNA sequence, which is the cause of disease or disorder, is located, cut, and removed and then replaced with a ‘correct’ sequence

AlphaFold & Protein

Recently, DeepMind, a company based in London, announced that it had predicted the three-dimensional structures of more than 200 million proteins using AlphaFold. AlphaFold is an Artificial Intelligence-based protein structure prediction tool. It is based on a computer system called Deep Neural Network. Neural networks use a large amount of input data and provide the desired output exactly like how a human brain would.

Genomics Democracy

Recently, WHO’ Science Council has released a report “Accelerating access to genomics for global health” advocating for passing on Genomic Technologies to developing countries. Genomics is the study of all of a person's genes (the genome), including interactions of those genes with each other and with the person's environment. The field of genomics uses biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology methods to understand and use biological information in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). The technologies used in genomic science are numerous and continue to expand.

Application of Genomics:

Control Infectious Disease:
Mapping the evolution of infectious agents.
Assigning phenotypic, such as infectivity and pathogenicity, to specific genes.
Evaluating an infectious agent’s sensitivity or resistance to drugs.
Prevent and Manage Genetic Conditions:
Evaluating carrier status for a genetic disorder
Screening for and diagnosis of single gene disorders.
Assessing disease susceptibility or predisposition to many chronic illnesses.
Selecting medications based on mechanism of action or genetic determinants of metabolism to reduce toxicities

Status of Biotech Sector

India is among the top 12 destinations for biotechnology globally and 3rd largest biotechnology destination in the Asia Pacific region. The country is also the world’s third-largest producer of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine and second-largest producer of BT cotton (genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton). India’s Biotech sector is categorised into Biopharmaceuticals, BioIndustrial, Bioagriculture, BioIT & BioServices.

Bt cotton and Its Impact  

cotton is a genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to combat bollworm. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton has been commercially grown in India for the past 19 years. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) approved the release of Bt cotton for commercial cultivation in 2002 in western and southern parts of the country. In Punjab, Bt cotton was released for cultivation in 2005. Before the release, it was adopted by 72% farmers on 22% of the cotton area.

Benefits

Reduction in insecticide use: Reduction in the use of highly dangerous insecticides by volume and their applications. pg. 4 Reducing Impacts: Decline in environmental and human health impact associated with insecticide use. More profits and income: Reduction in the expenses associated with insecticide use. With reduced investment on insecticides and pesticides, farmers are able to save more even after paying high for Bt Cotton seeds. Employment to Women: Traditionally, plucking the flower of cotton had been the task of Women. It has led to better income opportunities for women. Better Soil Health: Soil health remains intact by their use.Reduction in insecticide use: Reduction in the use of highly dangerous insecticides by volume and their applications. pg. 4 Reducing Impacts: Decline in environmental and human health impact associated with insecticide use. More profits and income: Reduction in the expenses associated with insecticide use. With reduced investment on insecticides and pesticides, farmers are able to save more even after paying high for Bt Cotton seeds. Employment to Women: Traditionally, plucking the flower of cotton had been the task of Women. It has led to better income opportunities for women. Better Soil Health: Soil health remains intact by their use.

Issues?

Lack of Evidence: The compatibility of Bt with IPM is not known. Thus, the contrarian view that Bt cotton has been a failure in India, in this case Punjab, lacks empirical evidence.
Uncertain Resistance: The complete reliance on Bt cotton without incorporating it into the integrated pest management (IPM) system led to outbreak of whitefly in northern India and pink bollworm in western India in 2015. Thus, resistance to Bt cotton is yet to become a significant problem.
Awareness & Education: Small farmers generally don't benefit from Bt cotton much because of lower awareness and education about the same.

 GM Crops

 GM foods are derived from plants whose genes are artificially modified, usually by inserting genetic material from another organism, in order to give it a new property, such    increased yield, tolerance to a herbicide, resistance to disease or drought, or to improve its nutritional value.

  best known example of GM rice is golden rice.
  Golden rice involves the insertion of genes from a plant -- both daffodils and maize have been used -- and a soil bacterium to create    a grain that is enriched with VitaminA
  Golden rice involves the insertion of genes from a plant -- both daffodils and maize have been used -- and a soil bacterium to create a grain that is enriched with Vitamin A.

 Note:

   India has approved commercial cultivation of only one GM crop, Bt cotton.
   No GM food crop has ever been approved for commercial cultivation in the country.
   However, confined field trials have been allowed for at least 20 GM crops.
 

Bt Brinjal

Brinjal is India’s second most consumed vegetable after potatoes.
Bt brinjal is created by inserting a crystal protein gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
The Bt brinjal has been developed to give resistance to the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB).
Mahyco has developed the Bt brinjal variety.
Insecticide requirement for Bt brinjal is far less than its non-Bt counterpart for the control of FSB.
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) cleared Bt brinjal for commercialization in 2009.
Following concerns raised by some scientists and anti-GMO activists, the GOI has imposed a moratorium on its commercial use (not a permanent ban).
Mahyco’s Bt brinjal is commercially grown in Bangladesh|

Food fortification

Fortification is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content. These nutrients may or may not have been originally present in the food before processing.
Need of fortification
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4):
58.4% of children (6-59 months) are anemic
53.1% women in the reproductive age group are anemic
35.7% of children under 5 are underweight
Also, It is estimated that 50-70% of these birth defects are preventable. One of the major causes is deficiency of Folic Acid.
Thus, fortification is necessary to address deficiency of micronutrients or micronutrient malnutrition, also known as “hidden hunger”, a serious health risk.
One of the strategies to address this problem is fortification of food. This method complements other ways to improve nutrition such as such as diversification of diet and supplementation of food.

Fortification in India
Currently government is promoting fortification in following 5 food items:
Rice, salt, edible oil, milk and wheat.

Rice: Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD) has been running a “Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution through Public Distribution System”. The scheme was initiated in 2019-20 for a three-year pilot run. This scheme will run till 2023 and rice will be supplied to the beneficiaries at the rate of Re 1 per kilogram.


For rice fortification, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is the nodal agency

Wheat: The decision on fortification of wheat was announced in 2018 and is being implemented in 12 states under India’s flagship Poshan Abhiyaan to improve nutrition among children, adolescents, pregnant mothers and lactating mothers.

Edible oil: Fortification of edible oil, too, was made compulsory across the country by FSSAI in 2018.


Milk: Fortification of milk was started in 2017 under which the National Dairy Development Board of India (NDDB) is pushing companies to add vitamin D.

Fortification

Benefits of fortification
High benefit-to-cost ratio: Food fortification has a high benefit-to-cost ratio. The Copenhagen Consensus estimates that every 1 Rupee spent on fortification results in 9 Rupees in benefits to the economy. While an initial investment to purchase both the equipment and the vitamin and mineral premix is required, the overall costs of fortification are extremely low.
Also, fortification ensures a threshold level of nutrition at a very low cost—just 15 paisa to fortify a litre of oil and 2 paisa for a litre of milk.

No socio-cultural barriers: Fortification does not require any changes in food habits and patterns of people. It is a socio-culturally acceptable way to deliver nutrients to people

No alteration of food characteristics: It does not alter the characteristics of the food like the taste, aroma or the texture of the food
Quick implementation: It can be implemented quickly as well as show results in improvement of health in a relatively short period of time.
Wide reach: Since the nutrients are added to widely consumed staple foods, fortification is an excellent way to improve the health of a large section of the population, all at once.

Loading the system with iron has its own problems. Iron has oxidative properties and it can react with intestinal mucosa, which could become damaged by existing infections, which are widespread in India. Tuberculosis, malaria and other infections become uncontrollable when iron is given at the acute phase of these infections. New evidence shows that high ferritin is associated with diabetes, especially during pregnancy.

Loss of natural protective substances: Sometimes, fortification can have the opposite effect. Natural foods contain protective substances such as phytochemicals and polyunsaturated fat that are adversely affected by the process of blending micronutrients.

Market-driven solution: The researchers are worried that the push towards fortification is more to help the industry than the people and is an international market driven solution and without any scientific logic Mandatory fortification will create markets that will be hard to withdraw when we have achieved the target of reduced micronutrient deficiency. Moreover, globally, scientific studies have shown that fortification programmes lead to increased market share for larger formal players, and reduce market share of the informal sector


High cost:
The fortification expenditure of only the rice delivered through the social safety networks will cost the public exchequer about Rs 2,600 crores annually.
 

Impact on small industries: Fortification creates an assured market for multinationals. It could threaten the livelihoods of small units across India. Like, in case of rice and oil processing. Although the FSSAI claims that medium and large rice millers will be incentivised to fortify rice, the process itself is expensive and prohibitive for small players. An indicative cost of setting up rice fortification infrastructure for a medium-sized mill is Rs 3.2 crore, according to the government.

No direct link b/w anaemia & iron deficiency: There is no direct link between anaemia and iron deficiency. Anaemia is high among poor children in the rural areas but iron deficiency is more among the urban and rich across the country.