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Future Belongs To Genomics
Are you suffering from vitamin A deficiency and hate to pop in pills? Don't worry, now you can down a plateful of rice that will meet your daily need of vitamin A. Plant biotechnologists have devised
a unique rice that contains beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which synthesises in side the body, producing vitamin A.
The rice may also have been loaded with iron to compensate iron deficiency. Marvels of this rice, known as golden rice, were highlighted by Prof. Shampa Das of the department of plant molecular and cellular genetics, Bose Institute, at the 9th Dipta Memorial Symposium recently. Organised by the Bose Institute Research Scholar's Forum, the symposium's theme was 'Information Technology and Biological Technology: Shaping the Future Society'.
According to Prof. Das, promises of plant biotechnology have the potential to usher in a second green revolution. If the present rate of population growth continues, it will swell to 8 billion by 2025, increasing the number of undernourished people. As most of the crops fall prey to harmful pests, food production is not always guaranteed. "So researchers have a inserted a gene - the so-called Bt gene of the bacteria
Bacillus thuringiensis - into cotton, maize, and potatoes, thereby enabling them to produce a protein that kills off the deadly pests," Prof. Das added.
Speaking at the symposium, Samir Dam, deputy general manager (eastern region) of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
(VSNL), discussed how internet was helping users in gathering information fast. "Updated information related to medical science painstakingly amassed on the internet can help a doctor treat a patient under critical condition," said he.
Besides being a storehouse of information, web of computers has accelerated the pace of gene sequencing so much so that Human Genome Project
(HGP) has been wrapped up well before the speculated time. "We now know how J. Craig
Venter and his colleagues at the Celera Genomics have shot into fame using computerised gene sequencing while mapping the human genome," Prof. Ashok
Thakur, pro-vice chancellor of Jadavpur University, said.
Incidentally, HGP has also unveiled the indelible stamp of our lowly origin. "Humans share 223 genes with bacteria," Prof. Ashis Duttagupta of the department of zoology, Calcutta University, said.
"Armed with genomic information, biotechnologists could identify a faulty gene and its implications in a disease," N.
Nandogopal, senior research scientist of Chembiotek research, said.
Cross pollination of information technology and biotechnology has spawned the astonishing field of bio-computation. "According to bio-computer specialists, one teaspoonful of bacteria can store million times more memory than today's largest computer," Anirban
Chatterjee, a senior research fellow at the department of plant molecular and cellular genetics, Bose Institute, said.
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